V-Flyer

Hi there,

Being a bit new to redeeming miles (having stashed them for the past 5 years or so) I'm not sure if it's VS FC or me being a bit dim [:I]

I'm trying to book 2 x reward flights from AKL to SYD in a few weeks time. Prior to calling FC, I checked with NZ to make sure they had availability, which they did. So I phone FC and requested the reward flights but the guy kept saying that all my requests were coming back unconfirmed.

Hummmmm me thinks. I call NZ again and the lovely lady even double checked what code VS use to book their reward flights (apparently there's only a couple of codes for business class anyway) before confirming that I could have a choice of flights on the day I want to travel there's so much availability.

Since the original chap at VS didn't call me back, as requested, I called again and spoke to someone else. Very nice chap who basically said the system that they use is crap. He said they can't phone NZ and they *have* to request the seats using their system and if they come back unconfirmed they just have to keep trying, even if they know there's seats available.

All sounds a bit backward to me [:(] Anyone got any advice?

Milliemoo

Not really helpful but many over at the UA forum have had issues booking NZ flights using UA miles. That said I booked a BNE-AKL-BNE in J and had no issues plus even changed dates frequently.

Be advised that NZ tends not to fly the 777 or 747 on the AKL-SYD route so no UCS-like seat in J. There is the UCS-like seat in J to MEL and BNE.

Yup, I booked a domestic NZ flight the other week with no problems...just this time seems to be a bit of a struggle.

We decided on business (even in the old style seats) because it's only an extra 10k miles (30k instead of 20k). It's the same deal all over Australia, which is fantastic value if you're flying to somewhere like Perth. [y]

Milliemoo

Now you are right. Excellent deal. AKL to Perth would be a ~7 hour flight?

I've got out holidays for the next 5 years all planned out [:p]

Milliemoo

According to the VS web site reward flights from NZ to Oz are

New Zealand to Australia (Auckland/Wellington/Christchurch/Queenstown to Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane).

It never used to be restricted to east coast but now appears that hole has been plugged. However, as usual the stated rules always seem to cause confusion at the time of booking so please keep us informed if you are able to book NZ to Perth.

Mark.