[Deal Alert] New Zealand From 48K in Business

Update:The offer mentioned below has expired and is no longer available.

Finding business class award seats to New Zealand is nearly impossible, especially since there are so few airlines that operate these flights. However, we’ve seen a fairly last-minute smattering of seats available in business class on both United and Air New Zealand — which rarely occurs.

Let’s take a deeper look.

Table of Contents

Fare Alert — Details
Best Ways To Book
Final Thoughts

Fare Alert — Details

All of these awards are either going to be operated by United Airlines or Air New Zealand, which are both part of Star Alliance. This means you can redeem your miles from airlines such as Aeroplan and ANA. Virgin Atlantic is also an option for Air New Zealand awards.

Class: Business
Routes: Los Angeles (LAX) to Auckland (AKL)
Dates: May 2023 to July 2023
Rates: As low as 48,000 miles one-way

Your best bet is to use the calendar function on United’s website to search for awards. Here’s how it looks from Los Angeles (LAX) to Auckland (AKL):

LAX to AKL award rates — Image Credit: United

United’s pricing isn’t the best, so once you find these seats you’ll want to move to a different website. Here’s how it looks via Air Canada’s Aeroplan:

Screen Shot 2023 05 08 at 1.41.18 PM — Image Credit: Air Canada

Don’t book there, however, as Chase is currently offering a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic. Virgin charges just 62,500 points for Air New Zealand awards to the mainland U.S., which means you’ll need to transfer just 48,000 Chase points to book this flight.

If you don’t want to go with Virgin Atlantic, the cheapest round-trip option is by booking via ANA, where a round-trip award costs just 120,000 miles in business class.

Best Ways To Book

It’s rare that we find award availability to New Zealand, so if this is something you’re interested in you’ll want to jump on it immediately. There are a few different ways you can book this, as you can see above.

If you have Chase Ultimate Rewards, you’ll pay 48,000 points one-way for Air New Zealand flights thanks to its transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic. Otherwise, Virgin points are easy to earn since they also partner with American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, Capital One Miles, and Bilt Rewards at a 1:1 ratio. Be aware that these can’t be booked online; you’ll need to call Virgin Atlantic to book.

If phone calls aren’t your thing, ANA is your best bet at just 120,000 miles round-trip. You can earn more ANA miles by transferring from American Express Membership Rewards at a 1:1 ratio. However, it’s not possible to book one-way flights with ANA, which can make this difficult if you’re not finding seats for your return.

Hot Tip:

Check out our guide to recommended websites and apps that offer flight deal alerts to make sure you don’t miss out on the next great travel deal!

Final Thoughts

This is an insanely good deal for business class flights to New Zealand and we’re seeing quite a few dates over the next two months with availability. Book now or you might regret it later!