Air New Zealand is having a terrific business class fare sale from Los Angeles to the Cook Islands from $1995 round trip, nonstop. The sale is available during a wide range of dates that includes parts of the local winter, spring, and summer — but the Internet tells me that the average daytime temperature during the coldest months is 77 degrees Fahrenheit — that’s a winter I can deal with.
The Deal
- Business class from LAX-RAR (Los Angeles to Raratonga, Cook Islands) from $1995 round trip
- Must purchase by June 10th
- Travel between June 3rd-July 14th, August 22nd-September 29th, November 11th-December 15th, and January 20th-March 31st, 2018.
- Minimum stay of 7 days
Some examples
June 3-9
July 8-21
January 27th-February 2nd
Mileage Earning
As a J-class fare, these flights should earn 200%according to Wheretocredit.com redeemable miles in a number of programs . Always be sure to double-check the fare class and earning structure in your preferred program, but according to that resource, this 9.000+ mile round trip journey should earn more than 18,000 redeemable miles if credited to Avianca, SAS, or Virgin Atlantic (helpful in the hunt for Virgin Duckies?). You could alternatively earn 15% miles in a number of Star Alliance programs.
Accommodations
I started at Hotel Hustle to see if there were any chain options. It appears there aren’t, so this might be a great use of the Hotels.com Amex Offer. Stock up on $50 gift cards with $10 back on each and then combine them online (click the tab that says “balance transfer”) to pay for your stay. While promotions often exclude most chain properties, some of these places may even qualify for Hotels.com coupon codes. I haven’t tried this, but I expect you could put together a nice savings between gift cards and promotion codes if you do find properties that work.
Other cities?
If you’re originating elsewhere in the US, you’ll want to book a positioning flight to LA. While New Zealand does partner with United, based on all of my searches, you’d be better off booking a separate round trip to LA even if you’re located in another United city.
Final Word
This looks like a great deal for a long trip in a lie-flat business class seat. The example dates above are only a few selections — head to Google Flights and adjust dates to fit your schedule. The Cook Islands look beautiful and the wide availability of this sale gives you a lot of options if the Cook Islands were on your radar. See more on this sale at First Class Flyer.
H/T: First Class Flyer
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Thanks for posting! I booked this for next March for 3 of us using my Business AMEX Plat 50% points benefit. We are continuing on this same flight all the way to New Zealand. (I got coach seats on the same continuing flight to Auckland, and then onwards on a different flight to Queensland, NZ, using Krisflyer Miles.) Now I’m trying to figure out how much time we should spend on the Cook Islands on our way back home. We have 12 nights total. I was thinking 7 on South Island New Zealand and 5 in Cook Islands. We really want to go over to Aitutaki but WOW are the flights expensive!
Meh. We did a few days on the Cook Islands, particularly Rarotonga, as part of our 1 month honeymoon trip to New Zealand, Australia and Japan. Took advantage of United’s previously lenient free stopovers and such. It was kind of cool but NOT worth the cost of airfare if you’re only going to be flying there. We didn’t get to see it, but I heard the more northern Cook Islands like Aiutaki are more beautiful, but will cost you another expensive charter plane ride to get there from Rarotonga. In my opinion, it’s not worth it.
What aircraft are being used on this run? B767?
777
Air new Zealand may interline with alaska but they are not frequent flyer partners.
You’re absolutely right. Not sure where I came up with that one. Fixed — thanks!