The Ultimate Guide to Air New Zealand Airpoints

Airpoints is the frequent flyer program of Air New Zealand, and it’s a program that tends to be a little controversial among frequent flyers. For those who travel regularly with Air NZ itself, the practical benefits can be rewarding. That’s arguably its biggest drawcard. But as for the points-based rewards… that’s a different story.

Rather than issuing points or miles like a traditional program, Air New Zealand gives Airpoints Dollars instead. These can be earned in all the usual ways – including via credit cards, flying, and on hotel stays. But Airpoints Dollars have a cash value. When spent with Air New Zealand, they simply go towards the purchase of flights.

On the one hand, it’s a simple approach that’s easy for the everyday Kiwi to grasp. But for frequent flyers looking to engage with a program for a tempting reward, the appeal isn’t as strong. In short, there’s no arbitrage to be had. The rewards you earn are literally worth what it says on the screen. There isn’t a way to ‘spend them better’ to create more value (at least, with Air New Zealand, wink), because their value is already stated in dollars.

For instance, with $100 in Airpoints Dollars in your account, that’s worth $100 towards the cost of a flight. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Economy or Business Class: $100 is $100. By extension, the number of Airpoints Dollars you need for a flight is dynamic, in line with the cash fare of the ticket. This makes rewards harder to plan for, as you don’t know whether your balance will cover the ticket until you try to book.

Still, Airpoints may be worth considering if you’re just chasing a simple frequent flyer program that’s easy to understand. Let’s take a look at what Airpoints can do for Aussie travellers.

How to sign up for an Airpoints account

It’s free to sign up for Air New Zealand Airpoints membership. Just follow these steps: 

1. Head to the registration page.
2. Fill in your personal details, address and contact information. 
3. Create a login. 
4. Congratulations, you’re now an Airpoints member! 
5. Check your inbox for a welcome email, and a record of your Airpoints number. 

How to redeem Airpoints Dollars

There are multiple ways to use Airpoints Dollars. Here are the most common routes.

Using Airpoints for Air New Zealand flights 

You can spend your Airpoints Dollars on any available seat on any Air New Zealand flight. If there’s a seat for sale, you can buy it with Airpoints Dollars. It’s basically like the ‘any seat’ rewards of Qantas and Velocity, rather than a traditional reward seat.

When it comes to spending your Airpoints, be aware that the program is now based solely in New Zealand dollars. For us Aussies, that represents a haircut in value compared to the previous system where AUD could be used, as 1 Airpoints Dollar is worth NZ$1 (~AU$0.91, as at the time of writing).

Nonetheless, you can use these Airpoints Dollars whenever and wherever it takes your fancy. This includes flights in Business Premier.

How to Book

You can book in any of the following three ways (the first is the most simple):

1. Book online: Simply sign into your Airpoints account before or while booking your flight. Then, select to pay with Airpoints Dollars at the payment stage.
2. Book by phone: Have your Airpoints membership number ready when you call the Air New Zealand Airpoints contact centre in Australia on 1800 803 298.

Using Airpoints for Star Alliance partner flights

Here’s where things get interesting. While Air New Zealand uses dynamic reward rates on its own flights, partner airline flights follow a fixed table. This are the more traditional kind of reward seats – where a booking is either available, or unavailable. But this means, regardless of the cash price, you’ll always know how many Airpoints Dollars you need.

When reward seats are available, here’s how many Airpoints Dollars you’d need to secure a seat on a partner airline. These rates apply per sector when flying on partner airlines. Note also that the table is in kilometres, not miles.

You’ll also need to pay any relevant taxes, fees and charges on top of the reward rate. These add-ons can only be paid using real money, not with Airpoints Dollars. But take a moment to look at that reward chart. Especially, the Business Class column. Long-haul Business Class for just $1,600 Airpoints Dollars plus taxes and fees? Now we’re talking!

But, don’t jump ahead too fast. Remember, these rates apply per sector. This means, if you have a connecting journey, you’ll pay the rate for the first flight, plus the rate for the second.

Let’s say you’re booking from Sydney to New York (Newark) on Air NZ’s Star Alliance partner United, and that your connection is via San Francisco. You’d be charged the rate for Sydney-San Francisco, plus the rate for the domestic leg on top.

• Sydney to San Francisco (11,937km): $1600 Airpoints Dollars (+taxes/fees).
• San Francisco to Newark (4,128km): $800 Airpoints Dollars (+taxes/fees).

So, for one-way Business Class from Sydney to NYC, you’re looking at $2,400 Airpoints Dollars, one-way. Plus, of course, taxes, fees and charges (typically less than $200 AUD on the route quoted).

Using Airpoints for flight upgrades

Here’s a feature exclusively for Air New Zealand’s highest-tier Elite members. That’s using Airpoints Dollars for fixed-rate, one-cabin upgrades. The full rates are here and vary from 95 Airpoints Dollars to 990 Airpoints Dollars, depending on the route. Passengers can also upgrade select flights on other Star Alliance carriers.

There are other ways to upgrade that don’t involve Airpoints Dollars: this includes Recognition Upgrades which are awarded to status members. There’s also OneUp, which is the airline’s cash bidding system for upgrades.

Earning Airpoints Dollars

Earning Airpoints with credit cards

One of the easiest methods to earn Airpoints Dollars in Australia is from credit card spend. A number of major bank rewards programs count Airpoints as a transfer partner.

• American Express Membership Rewards cards: Platinum Card, Platinum Edge and Explorer, among others.
• ANZ Rewards cards: ANZ Rewards Black, ANZ Rewards Platinum, ANZ Rewards Classic.
• NAB Rewards cards: NAB Rewards Signature, NAB Rewards Platinum and NAB Rewards Business Platinum.
• Star Alliance Rewards cards: HSBC Star Alliance Credit Card.
• Westpac Altitude Rewards cards: Altitude Black, Altitude Platinum and Westpac Altitude Business Rewards cards.

Earning Airpoints with flights

You can earn Airpoints Dollars on almost every Air New Zealand flight, excluding greenlight grabaseat fares via ‘grabaseat.co.nz‘ and fares purchased using Airpoints Dollars.

Simply enter your Airpoints membership number when you book a flight:

If you’ve got upcoming travel with Air New Zealand and you haven’t already entered an Airpoints number, you’ll have the chance to link things up when checking in online, or by providing your card or number at the airport. You could also message Air New Zealand via their Facebook or Twitter account and they’ll also be happy to input your account number for you.

If you’ve already travelled and forgotten to use your Airpoints number when booking, you may be able to claim missing Airpoints Dollars after the flight.

Air New Zealand has a really helpful calculator that lets you calculate how many Airpoints Dollars you could earn for a specific flight. The Airpoints Dollars earn rate is also confirmed before you book – if you’re using a desktop computer, look out for the top right-hand corner of the screen.

Airpoints Dollars can also be earned on a range of flights with Air New Zealand’s airline partners, including with Star Alliance.

Earning Airpoints with hotels, car rentals and travels

You could be earning Airpoints Dollars on every part of your upcoming travel experiences. Earn up to 3 Airpoints Dollars for every rental day with Avis or Budget, or get 1 Airpoints Dollar for every $75 spent through Expedia. You could also book directly with Airpoints partner hotels to earn on each booking.

Status Points and frequent flyer tiers

Holding status with Air New Zealand allows you to skip airport lines, enjoy complimentary airport lounge access and more. This includes when travelling with Star Alliance members and select partner airlines.

Status Points (SPs) dictate what level of membership you currently attain. There are four public membership tiers with Air New Zealand, from lowest to highest:

• Standard (entry level)
• Silver
• Gold
• Elite

There’s also a private Elite Priority One level, provided by invitation only. Seat upgrades clear in order of frequent flyer status, starting with Elite Priority One down to Silver. The figures for achieving and maintaining each status level are based on membership year. You can find more detailed information on Status Points and tier benefits on the Air New Zealand website, but here’s a summary:

Standard

To achieve: 0 SPs
To maintain: 0 SPs

There are no substantial benefits to this entry status level. It just means you’re a member of the Air New Zealand Airpoints program and can earn or redeem Airpoints Dollars, and earn Status Points.

Silver

To achieve: 450 SPs
To maintain: 405 SPs
Star Alliance equivalent: Silver
Note: At least half the Status Points must be earned on Air New Zealand-operated, qualifying partner, or Star Alliance qualifying flights.

• Two complimentary single-entry lounge passes each membership year that can be used at most Air New Zealand-owned lounges when departing on eligible flights. This excludes the Christchurch Regional Express Lounge.
• One Recognition Upgrade each time you retain or become a Silver member.
• OneUp offers will be upweighted by 10%.
• Priority waitlisting.
• Priority airport standby.
• Discounted business class award fares.

Gold

To achieve: 900 SPs
To maintain: 810 SPs
Star Alliance equivalent: Gold
Note: At least half the Status Points are to be earned on Air New Zealand-operated, qualifying partner, or Star Alliance qualifying flights.

• Access to Air New Zealand, Star Alliance and partner airline lounges with one guest, regardless of class.
• Two recognition upgrades each time you retain or become a Gold member and OneUp offers will be upweighted by 30%.
• Complimentary frequent flyer seating on any fare type.
• One extra checked bag (apart from seat-only fares).
• Two pieces of carry-on baggage, with a combined total weight of 14kg with a maximum weight of either bag of up to 10kg.
• Fast Bag service, where you can drop off and pick up your bag right beside the aircraft on Air New Zealand Link regional domestic flights.
• Priority check-in, boarding, baggage claim, waitlisting and airport standby.
• Gold Track with Star Alliance members (priority security & immigration).
• Vouchers for a complimentary one room category (hotel) and one car rental car upgrade at participating locations in Australia and New Zealand.
• Discounted Business Class award fares.
• Airpoints Dollars don’t expire, and you can have extra gift recipients.

Elite

To achieve: 1,500 SPs
To maintain: 1,350 SPs
Star Alliance equivalent: Gold
Note: At least 60% of the Status Points are to be earned on Air New Zealand-operated, qualifying partner, or Star Alliance qualifying flights.

In addition to Gold privileges, you’ll get:

• Lounge access perks and the ability to invite one guest for regional lounges, partner lounges, and Star Alliance lounges, and up to three guests for Air New Zealand International and Domestic lounges.
• Two long-haul and one short-haul recognition upgrades each time you retain or become an Elite member, the ability to use Airpoints Dollars for upgrades, and the ability to gift Recognition Upgrades or Elite Airpoints Dollar upgrades to other Airpoints members.
• OneUp offers will be upweighted by 50%.
• Five complimentary Air New Zealand Valet parking eVouchers.
• Special Elite gifts.
• Roll over Status Points if you earn between 1,500 and 2,399 Status Points.
• Elite banked year if you earn more than 2,400 Status Points.
• You can nominate an Elite Partner to receive many of the same benefits, even when travelling separately.

Air New Zealand status is a valuable benefit for those who loyally fly Air New Zealand and its partner airlines. But also remember, once you have status with one airline, you could potentially status match to other airlines and alliances down the track.

How do I contact Air New Zealand Airpoints? 

For Airpoints specific enquiries, call the Airpoints team support at +64 9357 3000 internationally, or at 0800 737 000 in New Zealand. From Australia, there is also a local number 1800 132 476. 

Summing up: why consider Air New Zealand Airpoints?

Air New Zealand is the country’s flag carrier, and Airpoints Dollars are relatively easy to earn from flights, hotels and a large range of outlets, including online.

If you’re a Kiwi living in Australia, it’s likely that you’ll accumulate a reasonable number of Airpoints Dollars along the line. So it’s important to learn how to get the best value back from them. Also, if you’re flying regularly, it’s relatively easy to move up the status tiers. Doing so unlocks some great benefits, including upgrades and access to some great domestic lounges.

But the program’s underlying design makes it relatively uncompetitive when earning points on the ground. The use of ‘Any Seat’ style redemptions makes it difficult to derive outsized value. Especially as the program now operates in NZD, with no separate provision for AUD memberships as before. The fact that flight upgrades are also only accessible to top-tier Elite members also doesn’t reward the vast majority of members. That is, however, a positive for those who fly Air New Zealand far more than most.

Frequently Asked Questions

Additional reporting by Daniel Sciberras, with previous research by Daniel Kinnoch. Supplementary images courtesy Air New Zealand.