What is the advantage / disadvantage of an air points Y redemption vs buy and upgrad

[Deleted member]

My sister has NZ air points.
Looking to do AKL - SFO- FRA -CDG ( and return)
My question is ( I'm not familiar with the star alliance options as I'm one world /QF) would there be much difference between buying a revenue fare in Y and look for an upgrade yo J or Y+ vs blowing points on a code share in Y with Lufthansa.?
From a one world / QF perspective , I would never waste points on long haul Y redemption, but rather a J or upgrade on a revenue fare. Mainly due to the disproportionate cost of taxes and fuel surcharge.

 

[cambriamarsh]

Re: What is the advantage / disadvantage of an air points Y redemption vs buy and up

NZ doesn't use the usual air points approach, they use Airpoints dollars so you "pay" in dollars as if it were cash. I don't know how this works with *A partners though.

 

[NZflygirl]

Re: What is the advantage / disadvantage of an air points Y redemption vs buy and up

If you use APD to buy an economy seat then it's less actual cash out of your back pocket despite surcharges. Whereas if you pay full fare then go for an upgrade then it's more money out of your back pocket and for some that is the bottom line - how much money do I fork out?

I don't think there's anything special or tricky about it but maybe your sister just cares about the basics of money over the comfort factor?

I've never redeemed APD on another airline so can't comment.

 

[Deleted member]

Re: What is the advantage / disadvantage of an air points Y redemption vs buy and up

thanks everyone

 

[kyanar]

Re: What is the advantage / disadvantage of an air points Y redemption vs buy and up

Don't forget that upgrades also use the PlusGrade system, where you "bid" for an upgrade in a sort of silent auction. To the best of my knowledge, you cannot "buy" an upgrade.

 

[Teal747]

Re: What is the advantage / disadvantage of an air points Y redemption vs buy and up

Can you upgrade a airnz ticket purchased with air points using the elite fixed price upgrades?
That would be a good saving in overall cost

 

[NZflygirl]

Re: What is the advantage / disadvantage of an air points Y redemption vs buy and up

Can you upgrade a airnz ticket purchased with air points using the elite fixed price upgrades?
That would be a good saving in overall cost

I know you can't do it if it's a grabaseat fare. Go to your NZ booking online and click on it. That should open up the boxes - one being labelled "request upgrade". Click on that and it should give you the option of requesting an elite APD upgrade or the option of a one up upgrade or your recognition upgrades. I suspect you can buy with APD and then upgrade with APD also. They very much seem to advertise and treat APD like cash. You could confirm with a call to the contact centre? if you're flying with a significant other you may want to check out the companion ticket chart Companion Ticket Chart - Spending Airpoints Dollars - Airpoints - Air New Zealand as another use of your APD and see what is cheaper. They don't have a chart for short haul PE or for Perth as both started about October in 2015 and 2014 - one of the things I'm going to feed back to them.

For international flights you will need to pay some sort of tax in cash. Can't recall the amount though. I think it should show you the amount before you confirm the booking though.

 

[serfty]

Re: What is the advantage / disadvantage of an air points Y redemption vs buy and up

When you use APD to redeem a flight on AirNZ you can only use them to pay the fare component.

You must pay the +++ in cold hard $$$.

 

[noviceFF]

Re: What is the advantage / disadvantage of an air points Y redemption vs buy and up

I have $130 APD to expire soon. I'm unlikely to fly Air NZ anytime soon. Can someone give me any suggestions on its use or can I transfer it somewhere?? Thx.

 

[kyanar]

Re: What is the advantage / disadvantage of an air points Y redemption vs buy and up

I have $130 APD to expire soon. I'm unlikely to fly Air NZ anytime soon. Can someone give me any suggestions on its use or can I transfer it somewhere?? Thx.

Cheap trans-tasman flight? Or alternatively a VA domestic flight by calling the contact centre. It'll cost you at least 175APD for that though, so you'd probably have to transfer a few credit card points in or something. If you were in NZ you could purchase a few using the OneSmart card. But if you were in NZ you could also set up Shairpoints and then up to 5 people can pool APD and all use them.