Or just 40,000 points one way…
For 80,000 points, just 20,000 points more than economy, you can spend 24 hours or more in a dreamy business class bed, blissfully floating through the friendly skies sipping from an endless champagne fountain. Ok, technically, it’s a “bottle”. Sound heavenly? In a quest to bring you the very best flying experiences for the fewest points possible, we present to you the best way to fly between Asia and New Zealand in either direction.
We’re talking about cashing in Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles. Don’t have any? You can turn American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi Thank You Points into Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles, almost instantly. You can also convert hotel points from SPG, Marriott, IHG and Hilton, though only SPG offers great value. If you’ve already got Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles, you’re all set! Air New Zealand Business Class is coincidentally a lot like Virgin Atlantic business class, with comfy flat beds which each have direct aisle access. No stepping over anyone required!
Any direct flight between Asia and New Zealand on Air New Zealand works using this points redemption. Why not turn your next New Zealand or Asia adventure into an amazing side trip? If Auckland is where you want to start or end your journey, you’ll pay no additional points at all. If you need to connect to another New Zealand city, you’ll pay an extra 15,000 round trip. Air New Zealand flies direct to Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore, giving great options all over North and Southeast Asia. You can start in either direction, and you can use this trick one way for just half the points – 40,000. You’d be hard pressed to find another airline offering the same rates. Shanghai is the longest flight on the list, with a 12 hour flight time.
Easy! Even though it has nothing do with Virgin Atlantic, the airline you’ll book with, or Air New Zealand, the airline you’ll actually fly on – United.com is your answer. The website allows you to search for availability using points on Air New Zealand, and if you find it, you can call Virgin Atlantic to book at exceptionally good rates. Head to United.com, put in your cities and press “award travel” and “non stop”.
Once you’ve found seats on Air New Zealand using the United Airlines website, you can call Virgin Atlantic Flying Club to book. You’ll pay just 40,000 Flying Club points one way, or 80,000 round trip, with surcharges under $200. Virgin Atlantic can hold tickets for you for 24 hours or more, allowing you to lock in the reservation before transferring your points over from one of the big banks. This is a great deal easily locking in 4 cents per point of value or better. Enjoy New Zealand, Asia – or both!
Will you use this great points redemption?
Featured image courtesy of Air New Zealand.
what is the cash copay associated with the redemption? i thought virgin usually had high cash copays, which is why the points cost was relatively low.
and now, here come the haters who will say ‘find me one seat in the next year and I shall eat my hat’ etc etc. LOL
It’s also 40k AA miles to go Tokyo-Abu Dhabi/Doha on EY or QR in J oneway.
VK might be right 😛
I’d also like to add that American Airlines miles and LifeMiles both offer 40k o/w Asia to Oceania. LifeMiles also has no fuel surcharges. Now to find the space =]
I very recently used Chase miles on Virgin Atlantic for a premium class Redemption. They definitely exist. However, United’s search is not necessarily the best, although it is free. Several of the dates I wanted and found through United’s site weren’t actually available. Virgin Atlantic flying club rep told me to use Expert Flyer instead, which I did, and it showed more availability than what United showed. worth the $10.
Thank you for making premium travel easier for newbies of the points game. You explain the process better than any other blogger. I really appreciate you sharing valuable information. I found availability in less than one minute. I shouldn’t have looked out of curiosity because now I feel I should book it.
I can’t thank you enough for this comment. I really, really do try – and hearing things like this make my day. Cheers Lauren!
Oh this is great news – have lots of virgin miles that i didnt have a use for, any clues how I actually find any AirNZ flights from HKG to AKL?, searched loads and loads via the United website, would love to know any tips..