good credit card for airpoints on air nz from us?

[thedans]

I am new to basically everything about traveling. Is there any way to start racking up airpoints for air nz from the US? Do any credit cards offer points that transfer? Sorry if this has been asked, i tried searching and most of the stuff was from UK or NZ only.

Thanks for the help

[KiwiChar]

I had the same question a while back too! I did see some sort of points comparison charts but there are so many out there its confusing. Doh! I'm hoping someone has already done some analysis and figured out which seem to be the best deal? :-).

http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/airpo...mparison-table

[thedans]

well i'm glad im not the only one that is confused by all the points and transfers and everything else!

Thanks for the chart, but i think those are still only if you are living in NZ, which hopefully i will be able to qualify for when we move. In the meantime i was hoping to rack up some points to in the US, so we can start accumulating for flights back to visit!

[Manks]

If you want to have points that you should be able to use on Air NZ when you get here, look at any Star Alliance airline - in the US that's United/Continental and US Airways. Air NZ is a member of the Star Alliance and will have a reciprocal points deal with other airlines. Be aware though, you will still have to make any booking through the US airline you choose. Check out the United and US Airways websites for more details.

I would also say that it takes a fair bit of time, especially through third-party deals like credit cards, to rack up enough points/miles to redeem for flights. although some credit cards may have a sign-up bonus. Unless you're travelling frequently, I almost question whether it would be worth it.

[Moomette]

Do any of their Star Alliance partners in the US (US Airways, United, Continental, etc) have credit cards that you could get? I know it's not quite the same, but I think you could still use those points for Air NZ flights later on?

[ljrobin]

United has a Visa card which you gain air miles on.

[thedans]

AWESOME! Thanks for the input everyone! i will have to check out United and US Airways, and see if it is really worth it.

[sophiedb]

This is all UK context, but we put all our Tesco Clubcard points into BA Miles (OneWorld) and also got a BMI credit card for Star Alliance points.

5 years later and we had enough for 2 adult and 1 child to fly one way to NZ via Australia, only paying taxes - which were hefty, but still... winner

[thedans]

ok, so in looking at the websites, and what Manks said about having to book through the US carrier, it seems ridiculous to use points. If i had to book through continental, the cost of my family would be close to $10,000. Looking at air NZ on the same dates, the cost is roughly half of that. Am i missing something here, or is it really that crummy of a deal?!

If anyone is interested I was checking for flying out of SFO to AKL on a one way ticket with 2 adults and 3 kids.

Any further clarification would be great, because it seems outrageous that continental would charge that much for flights!

[Manks]

ok, so in looking at the websites, and what Manks said about having to book through the US carrier, it seems ridiculous to use points. If i had to book through continental, the cost of my family would be close to $10,000. Looking at air NZ on the same dates, the cost is roughly half of that. Am i missing something here, or is it really that crummy of a deal?!

I don't know how Continental works its points scheme as each airline runs them differently. But the basic premise is:
- you fly with the airline and earn points (not $ as with Air NZ). Points awarded are based on the class of travel and fare paid (so a discount/sale fare in economy will not earn as much as if you paid for a full fare economy ticket) and usually based on the distance travelled
- Even if you fly business class all the time, it takes time to build up your points/miles. I used to fly East Coast to Europe a lot and would probably earn around 16,000 miles per return trip. To do the same trip on a 'reward' basis would 'cost' me 50,000 miles
- you can spend money on a credit card and earn points. Downside is that it takes A LOT longer to amass enough points this way to get anywhere close to even a domestic ticket. However some airlines offer you an incentive to take a credit card and may give you a 'lump sum' points offer (so you and your partner could both get cards and have a jump start on the points)

- points can then be spent on flights. The way airlines work out how many points required is not simply based on the fare, which you have been looking at, but quite often they will have a 'band' related to a series of destinations which require a certain number of points. E.g. with BA, most of its long haul flights were 50,000 'miles' each return. That would get you from the UK to anywhere in the USA, South Africa, the Caribbean, Asia etc. Exceptionally long flights may cost you more. E.g. we recently used miles to book a Qantas flight from AKL-LAX and that cost us 80,000 each return
-add on top of that the taxes you still need to pay. Sometimes these amount to almost the same cost of a normal sale flight!
- All airlines that operate a points system like this will have a limited number of seats per flight available for a 'reward' booking (using miles/points). Air NZ is different so I'm not basing it on this. You usually have to book early for popular routes. And forget it during school holidays!

I hope that helps explain things a little. Frequent Flyer schemes are aimed at just that - frequent flyers. If you're not going to be flying lots it takes a long time to get anywhere.

*Air NZ works completely differently to this but that is only when used with the Air NZ Airpoints scheme. If you are using another Star Alliance carrier's frequent flyer scheme, it will most likely be a points-based system like the one detailed above.