As announced back in November, American Airlines are launching Auckland – Los Angeles service in June this year. As always with new routes, there’s often an opportunity to snag award space as airlines look to fill aircraft with forward bookings – and American just opened up the calendar.
Via View from the Wing, many dates from the launch in June through to early September have a couple of Business Class seats open for redemption – and these will go fast.
Here’s a quick snapshot for one Business seat in July, just as an example:
How to redeem using Qantas Points
This route will run you 84,000 Qantas Points one way – and with less than $100 in taxes, thanks to American redemptions using Qantas Points not incurring fuel surcharges.
If you want to connect from another Australian (East Coast in this example) city, if you do so with a stopover of <24 hours Qantas will only charge you nominally extra points – an extra 12,000 instead of 36,000, which would have been the cost of a standalone Sydney – Auckland redemption.
Redeeming with other frequent flyer programs
An Asia Miles redemption would cost you 120,000 Asia Miles round trip, or 70,000 miles one way between Auckland and Los Angeles, while New Zealand falls into the Oceania zone at 62,500 AAdvantage miles one way.
Summing up
If you’re interested in using the new American route between Auckland and Los Angeles, this is the time to get in and book that redemption. Similarly if you’ve been hanging out for award space between Australia and the US, this is one way to ensure you get into Business Class, even if it does mean a stopover in Auckland.
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