Air New Zealand and United currently have multiple seats of business class award availability on direct flights from San Francisco and Los Angeles to Auckland (as well as a couple of seats from Washington-Dulles). I’m getting the same price from many connecting cities as well.
Availability seems to be in May, June and July only and departures are for several days during the week. Some dates have as many as 9 seats available.
These routes don’t come open with this many seats often. Even one or two seats is hard to come by. So, if you want it, book it soon.
The Deal
- Book business class awards on Air New Zealand and United from US to to Auckland in May/June
- Best non-stop availability is from San Francisco (SFO) and Los Angeles (LAX), some dates with up to 9 seats
- Many connecting cities pricing at saver as well
- I also found a couple of dates from Dulles (IAD), but with less seats
- These can be booked one of several ways (prices are each-way):
- United – 80,000 for United, 99K for Air New Zealand
- Avianca LifeMiles – 80,000
- Aeroplan – 75,000
- Virgin Atlantic – 62,500 (Air New Zealand only)
Quick Thoughts
Premium cabin award availability to Australia and New Zealand can be hard to come by so having several weeks of mult-day and multi-seat availability is a rarity.
Here’s the next two months between SFO and AKL on United.com (80K dates are United saver space, Air New Zealand are 99K):
If you’re interested in booking any of these flights, do it ASAP because some award availability has already started disappearing on some of the days shown in the screenshots above.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
