The Best Ways To Fly to New Zealand With Points and Miles [Step-by-Step]

New Zealand is known for its secluded geography, gorgeous scenery, and rich indigenous Polynesian culture — and this blend of culture and nature has it on many travelers’ radars.

As the film location of the “Lord of the Rings,” New Zealand is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Because of its picturesque landscape and amazing serenity, it should also be on your bucket list! But getting there isn’t the easiest endeavor in the world — it’s anywhere from 6,000 to 9,000 miles away from the U.S.!

There are several routes you can fly to get to New Zealand, with most of the nonstop routes operated by New Zealand’s flag carrier, Air New Zealand. Fortunately, it has a reputation as a great airline. As innovators in their own right, Air New Zealand features an interesting Skycouch product, as well as a solid business class. Some of your other nonstop options include United Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines (launching October 2023).

In this guide, we will discuss in detail the best ways to fly to New Zealand with points and miles. We’ll talk about your nonstop flight options, in addition to a few connecting routes from Hong Kong, Fiji, and Dubai. We’ll begin with some of the best sweet spots and work our way down to some alternative booking methods, depending on what type of points you have.

Get ready to learn about the best programs to use for booking flights to New Zealand!

Best Programs To Use To Book Flights

Getting to New Zealand isn’t an easy feat: there aren’t a ton of nonstop flights from the mainland U.S. and you’ll have to shell out a lot of cash to purchase just a basic ticket. New Zealand can be pricey to visit — with economy fares averaging ~$1,700 per person — meaning your points and miles will go even further when booking a trip there.

Since Air New Zealand is part of the Star Alliance, you might infer that most route flexibility will be through Star Alliance partners such as United Airlines.

Here are the airports that offer nonstop Air New Zealand flights to New Zealand from North America:

United Airlines offers a single route to New Zealand with Polaris business class:

• San Francisco (SFO) – Auckland (AKL)

Hawaiian Airlines offers a single route to New Zealand on the A330. We don’t recommend flying this route unless you are originating from Hawaii:

• Honolulu (HNL) – Auckland (AKL)

There is 1 American Airlines route, and it features the 787 Dreamliner:

• Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) – Auckland (AKL)

Delta Air Lines will launch nonstop service from the U.S. to New Zealand on October 28, 2023. The flight will be operated by an A350:

• Los Angeles (LAX) – Auckland (AKL)

The above routes are your only nonstop options. However, there are plenty more connecting options you can take.

As we jump into each redemption, note that nonstop routes in business class, especially aboard Air New Zealand are extremely difficult to find. Often, looking through United Airlines’ entire calendar (approximately 1 year long) will only yield 1 or 2 dates at most!

What this means is that you need to be as flexible as possible. Your options will be more plentiful if you are fine with taking connecting flights.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) Mileage Club

As usual, All Nippon Airways continues to impress with its amazing round-trip fares. With some of the most competitive round-trip business class award prices in the world, it’s no wonder ANA is at the top of our list in this guide.

Also a frequent flyer program belonging to a Star Alliance airline, ANA Mileage Club will allow you to fly to New Zealand nonstop on United or Air New Zealand. Best of all, ANA does not pass on fuel surcharges to United!

Check out the chart below to get an idea of what it would cost you to fly round-trip nonstop to New Zealand from the U.S.:

Hot Tip: ANA offers 1 free open-jaw and 1 free stopover OR 2 open jaws on its award bookings. You can fit in some optimization here, but again the challenge will be finding award availability.

Using ANA miles on partners is best for flying nonstops, even though it may cost a bit more than flying on ANA’s own metal.

Here are some great examples of redemptions on nonstop routes:

• Chicago (ORD) – Auckland (AKL) round-trip for 120,000 miles and ~$128 in taxes and fees in business class on Air New Zealand
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Auckland (AKL) round-trip for 120,000 miles and ~$128 in taxes and fees in business class on Air New Zealand
• San Francisco (SFO) – Auckland (AKL) round-trip for 120,000 miles and ~$128 in taxes and fees on United Airlines in Polaris business class

Unfortunately, ANA does not operate any of its own flights to Auckland. Instead, it codeshares with Air New Zealand from Tokyo. Therefore, you won’t be able to use the award chart for ANA’s own flights to save miles.

Regardless, Star Alliance partners Air New Zealand and United have amazing business class products on flights to New Zealand, so you will be in good hands.

When booking a United flight with ANA miles we recommend using United.com to search for award space because of its more user-friendly interface. Searching through ANA is also an option, but it has a clunky website.

We would recommend using the following workflow:

1. Search for availability on United’s website.
2. Confirm with ANA’s website directly and book your ticket online with ANA miles.

Earning ANA Miles

ANA is a transfer partner with American Express Membership Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy. ANA is an Amex airline partner at a 1:1 ratio, while Marriott Bonvoy transfers a bit differently.

Amex Membership Rewards points can take 2 to 3 days to transfer to ANA. You can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to ANA at a 3:1 ratio. For every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points you transfer, you will also receive a 5,000-mile bonus. Keep in mind that it can take up to 7 business days for your Marriott Bonvoy points to transfer to ANA.

Bottom Line: Extremely attractive award pricing, a variety of nonstop route offerings, and low taxes and fees are among the many reasons you’d want to first look at using ANA miles to fly to New Zealand. Besides its strategic Star Alliance partner Air New Zealand, ANA’s award chart is ripe for optimization with stopovers and open-jaws! 

Recommended American Express Cards (Personal)

Business Owner? Check out our article on the best Amex business cards that earn Membership Rewards.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Virgin Atlantic is also at the top of our list because of Flying Club’s great redemption rates and the fact that it’s one of the best Chase transfer partners for business class flights to New Zealand if you can find award availability on Air New Zealand.

The round-trip costs for Air New Zealand booked with Virgin Points are:

Here are some great example routes:

• Houston (IAH) – Auckland (AKL) round-trip for 125,000 miles and ~$128 in taxes and fees in business class on Air New Zealand
• New York (JFK) – Auckland (AKL) one-way for 62,500 miles + ~$43 in taxes and fees in business class on Air New Zealand
• Vancouver (YVR) – Auckland (AKL) round-trip for 125,000 miles and $128 in taxes and fees in business class on Air New Zealand

For Air New Zealand flights, follow these steps to book with Virgin Atlantic:

1. Search on United’s website.
2. Confirm with Air Canada’s website (ensure United’s availability is real, not phantom space).
3. Call Virgin Atlantic at 800-365-9500 to confirm your reservation.

Earning Virgin Points

As we mentioned above, Virgin Atlantic is a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner. In fact, it is also a transfer partner with these major rewards currencies: Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles (via Virgin Red), Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy.

All except Marriott Bonvoy typically transfer at a 1:1 ratio. Even better, there are often huge transfer bonuses from American Express, Capital One, and Citi! These transfer bonuses range from 25% to 30%, so be sure to hold out for the absolute best deal when transferring your points.

On top of this, Virgin Atlantic has its own co-branded credit card with Bank of America.

Lastly, for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points you transfer, you will receive 20,000 Virgin Points and a 5,000-point bonus. Keep in mind that Virgin Points typically post from Marriott Bonvoy transfers in less than 24 hours.

With all of this in mind, you can potentially transfer 97,000 points during a 30% transfer bonus to book Air New Zealand round-trip business class! This is an amazing deal that you simply cannot pass up, but it seems like the stars have to line up just perfectly to execute this method, especially with the sparse award availability.

Hot Tip:
If you’ve wanted to try Virgin Australia’s long-haul business class, be sure to take advantage of transfer bonuses that could potentially save you a ton of points. You’ll have to take connecting flights with Virgin Australia to New Zealand, but using Virgin Points to book is a no-brainer!

Recommended Chase Cards (Personal)

Business Owner? Check out our article on the best Chase business cards that earn Ultimate Rewards.

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

Alaska Airlines might not be the most intuitive frequent flyer program for flights to New Zealand, but it is nonetheless a great option for flights with Cathay Pacific, Fiji Airways, Korean Air, and Qantas.

To start, Alaska Airlines does not pass on fuel surcharges on any flights, except with British Airways and Icelandair. As a result, we can disregard all fuel surcharges for these routes. You will typically be paying around ~$19 in total taxes and fees each way.

Alaska has some pretty unique travel partners like Fiji Airways, and typically very good redemption rates to boot!

You can fly to New Zealand via Hong Kong round-trip on Cathay Pacific for 80,000 miles in economy, 95,000 in premium economy, 120,000 in business, and 160,000 in first class.

Additionally, you can fly from Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), or Honolulu (HNL) via Nadi (NAN) to Auckland (AKL), Christchurch (CHC), or Wellington (WLG) on Fiji Airways — round-trip award redemptions cost 80,000 miles in economy or 110,000 miles in business class.

Another interesting possibility is to fly to Auckland via Seoul-Incheon (ICN) round-trip on Korean Air for 85,000 miles in economy or 125,000 miles in business class.

Lastly, you can fly to New Zealand via Australia round-trip on Qantas for 85,000 miles in economy, 95,000 in premium economy, 110,000 in business, and 140,000 in first class.

Hot Tip: Alaska allows stopovers, even on one-way tickets! Be sure to work in a vacation within a vacation in Dubai, Hong Kong, Australia, Korea, or even Fiji! 

Here are some great example routes and redemption costs:

• Boston (BOS) – Hong Kong (HKG) – Auckland (AKL) round-trip for 120,000 miles and ~$38 in taxes and fees on Cathay Pacific in business class (52 hours in business class!)
• Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) – Sydney (SYD) – Auckland (AKL) round-trip for 140,000 miles and ~$38 in taxes and fees on Qantas in first class and business class (34 hours in first class and 6 hours in business class!)
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Nadi (NAN) – Christchurch (CHC) round-trip for 110,000 miles and ~$38 in taxes and fees on Fiji Airways in business class (31 hours in business class!)
• New York (JFK) – Seoul-Incheon (ICN) – Auckland (AKL) round-trip for 125,000 miles and ~$76 in taxes and fees on Korean Air in business class (50 hours in business class!)

Follow these steps to book with Alaska Airlines:

1. Go to Alaska’s website.
2. Search for your desired route (make sure you select Use Miles).
3. Select your desired flight and Add To Cart.
4. Log in to your Alaska Mileage Plan account.
5. Pay the necessary taxes and fees and complete your booking.

Earning Alaska Airlines Miles

There are a lot of ways you can earn Alaska miles, and you can get a large chunk mostly through credit card sign-up bonuses. To be specific, you can sign up for Alaska Airlines’ co-branded credit cards offered by Bank of America.

You could also transfer hotel points from Marriott Bonvoy at a 3:1 ratio — unfortunately, Alaska doesn’t have transfer partners other than Marriott Bonvoy. When you transfer 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points in a single transaction, you’ll get a bonus of 5,000 Alaska Airlines miles.

To top off your balances, you can purchase Alaska miles. Though you’re limited to 60,000 miles per transaction, you can buy as many miles as you want. Alaska Airlines often offers discounts of up to 40% on purchased miles, so look to buy miles at those times.

Bottom Line: With Alaska miles, you won’t be paying for fuel surcharges, even on connecting flights. There’s a healthy variety of airlines you can take to get to New Zealand. This is a great sweet spot for Cathay Pacific and Qantas in particular. Unfortunately, there are no transfer partners besides Marriott Bonvoy. 

Recommended Marriott Bonvoy Cards

Etihad Guest Miles

With Etihad Guest, there’s only 1 practical route you can take to New Zealand:

• Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) – Auckland (AKL) nonstop on American Airlines’ Boeing 787 Dreamliner

For this route, you will be able to fly round-trip for 75,000 Etihad miles in economy and 125,000 miles in business class.

The business class award price is the best available for AA business class with the exception of JAL miles, which are much harder to earn (we’ll talk about Japan Airlines in the next section).

Keep in mind that this flight is extremely difficult to find award availability for since it’s American Airlines’ sole route to New Zealand.

But with the right amount of time and flexibility, you can get extremely affordable award fares with your Etihad Guest miles.

Booking with Etihad Airlines requires a phone call. To book, follow these steps:

1. Visit British Airways and log in.
2. Select your route, travel dates, and class of service (British Airways can sometimes not show award availability; you’ll have to play with dates back and forth and keep refreshing the page if this happens).
3. Note the flight number, date, and time.
4. Call Etihad Airways’ Call Center (877-690-0767), press 1 for English, then press 4 (don’t press 2 for “first and business class” bookings). Press 1 to book or change a flight, then press 1 to book or change a flight using Etihad Guest miles.
5. Ask the agent to search for business class award space on American Airlines for the appropriate date (you might have to provide the flight number).
6. Provide all necessary info to complete the booking.

Hot Tip: Etihad will not allow award flight holds, so be sure to act quickly once your points transfer to Etihad Guest! 

Need help booking? Check out our step-by-step guide for booking American Airlines business class.

Earning Etihad Guest Miles

You can actually earn Etihad Guest miles very easily since Etihad is a transfer partner of Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy.

Amex, Capital One, and Citi transfer to Etihad Guest miles at a 1:1 ratio. There are sometimes bonuses that American Express runs when transferring to Etihad, so keep your eyes peeled!

The last time we saw an American Express bonus to Etihad Guest was when the issuer offered a 20% transfer bonus in July 2022. This meant that for 1,000 Amex points, you got 1,200 Etihad Guest Miles.

Although we wouldn’t count on it happening anytime soon, a 20% transfer bonus would lower the cost dramatically, bringing down the price of a round-trip, business class American Airlines ticket to 104,167 Amex Membership Rewards points! This spectacular booking retails for a minimum of ~$11,000 and would net you 10 to 11 cents in value per point!

Bottom Line: For those who want to try American Airlines business class to Auckland and also live in Dallas, Etihad Guest is a spectacular way to do so! With business class redemptions only costing 125,000 miles round-trip and economy for 75,000 miles, you should give this program some serious thought! 

Japan Airlines (JAL) Mileage Bank

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank presents a niche advantage if you satisfy the following criteria:

1. You have lots of Marriott Bonvoy points and can’t find a better use for them.
2. You prefer to fly on American Airlines.
3. You want to fly nonstop to New Zealand.

To fly the same exact American Airlines route as above (DFW – AKL), for a round-trip you’ll pay 70,000 miles in economy, 94,000 miles in premium economy, and 130,000 miles in business class.

Again, we wouldn’t endorse this method unless you fit the 3 conditions above.

For better ways to redeem your Marriott Bonvoy points, check out our guides on maximizing value for flights and hotels.

You can book flights on Japan Airlines online by following the steps below:

1. Go to the Japan Airlines website.
2. Log into your JAL Mileage Bank account.
3. Select JAL International Award Ticket Reservation.
4. Select round-trip or one-way.
5. Select your desired Area of Departure and Area of Arrival.
6. Select your travel dates, departure and destination airports, and class of service.
7. Select Designate Date if your travel must be on the specific dates you have selected, or Award Reservation Calendar if you have flexible travel dates.
8. Click Next.
9. If you selected Designate Date, you’ll be taken directly to your flight options.
   • Make sure the flights you select have seats available and do not require waitlisting.
10. If you selected Award Reservation Calendar, you will see 7 dates for your departure and 7 dates for your return.
    • Select the dates, and you will be taken to your flight options for those dates.
11. Confirm the Mileage Bank miles and taxes/fees required.
12. Select your desired flights and hit Next (assign seat now) so you can select your seat and complete the booking process.

Hot Tip: When you select your flights, make sure there is availability since Japan Airlines will also show flights you can be waitlisted for.

Earning Japan Airlines Miles

Again, JAL’s only transfer partner is Marriott Bonvoy.

JAL has a co-branded credit card, but it lacks a strong welcome bonus and bonus categories that increase earnings. It’s best to save them for other redemptions, such as booking JAL’s own first class!

British Airways Avios

For those who want to make their miles stretch further and don’t mind flying in economy, look no further!

British Airways Executive Club also provides competitive economy or short-haul fares. It also happens to be a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner, which bolsters the value of this method.

Since New Zealand is a relatively inaccessible destination, cash prices on tickets can often go sky-high!

To fly on AA’s nonstop Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) – Auckland (AKL) service, you will pay only 90,000 miles round-trip. You also won’t pay any fuel surcharges, as they are not levied in New Zealand.

Keep in mind that booking premium economy costs 118,000 miles and business costs 160,000 miles, making this an unattractive redemption for premium cabins.

You can book awards completely online using British Airways Avios. Here’s how:

1. Visit British Airways and log in.
2. Select your route, travel dates, and class of service.
3. Note the flight number, date, and time.
4. Provide all necessary info to complete the booking.

Earning British Airways Avios

British Airways is a transfer partner with Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy.

Amex, Bilt, Capital One, and Chase transfer almost instantly at a 1:1 ratio, while Marriott Bonvoy transfer at a 3:1 ratio with a bonus of 5,000 Avios when you transfer 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points in a single transaction.

Although British Airways is known for levying fuel surcharges on its own flights, it does not do so on Iberia and AA flights.

You can also earn lots of Avios through the Chase co-branded British Airways Visa Signature^® Card. However, it’s much easier to earn through Chase Ultimate Rewards, so we recommend looking there first.

Bottom Line: Want to fly economy and make your miles stretch further? Have lots of Chase Ultimate Rewards or Amex points? Look no further than British Airways Avios!

United Airlines MileagePlus

Similar to Etihad Guest, this method of booking travel to New Zealand is perfect for 1 routing:

• San Francisco (SFO) – Auckland (AKL) round-trip from 180,000 miles and ~$54 in taxes and fees on United Airlines in Polaris business class

For those who only have Chase Ultimate Rewards points and not Amex Membership Rewards points, this will be the cheapest way to fly business class to New Zealand.

To make things even better, you won’t pay any fuel surcharges when booking through United. Also, keep in mind that the mileage price quoted above is the saver-level pricing; most dates will have much more expensive pricing, around 200,000 miles one-way.

The cherry on top is that this route is nonstop and features United Airlines’ flagship Polaris class product. United tends to lump all Polaris business class cabins together; this is not necessarily accurate since the new seats are only offered on a few routes. But the soft product (including bedding and food) will be the same regardless of which version of Polaris class you fly on.

Need help booking? Check out our guide on the best ways to book United Polaris business class.

Earning United MileagePlus Miles

Chase offers several United co-branded credit cards capable of directly earning United miles.

Also, Bilt Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy are transfer partners with United.

Chase and Bilt both transfer at a 1:1 ratio, while the current Marriott Bonvoy transfer ratio is 3:1.1. And if you transfer 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, you will get a bonus of 5,000 United miles.

Again, this is the best option to book business class for those who only have Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

Bottom Line: An extremely solid business class product, reasonable Chase Ultimate Rewards redemption rates, and a simple booking process — what more could you ask for? We love the San Francisco to Auckland route on United Airlines for these reasons.

American Airlines AAdvantage

Some of our readers have a lot of AA miles and want to use them. Although the redemption rates aren’t as nice as the rates you’d find booking with Etihad Guest Miles, it’s definitely still an option to consider if you’re sitting on loads of AA miles.

Here’s the award chart for the DFW-AKL nonstop route on AA’s 787:

Here’s how you can book on American Airlines:

1. Visit the American Airlines website.
2. Log in using your AA username and password.
3. In the search box, check off the box that says Redeem Miles.
4. Enter the departure city, destination city, travel dates, and number of passengers.
5. Click Search.
6. Complete the booking 100% online by using your miles and a credit card for taxes and fees.

Need help booking? See our step-by-step guide for booking American Airlines business class.

Hot Tip:
Although the lowest possible price for business class tickets on AA would cost around 80,000 miles one-way, you should expect to see prices of around 175,000 miles one-way on many dates.

Earning American Airlines AAdvantage Miles

AAdvantage miles are easy to earn, especially in the short term through welcome bonuses. Barclays and Citi both issue co-branded American Airlines credit cards.

You can also transfer points at a 1:1 ratio from Bilt Rewards almost instantly.

If you’re short on AA miles, you can top your account off with Marriott Bonvoy points at a 3:1 ratio, but it’s not the best option.

It can take up to 3 business days to transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to American Airlines.

Bottom Line: If you’re waiting for an opportunity to spend your AA miles, look no further. For as little as 160,000 miles, you can book round-trip business class from Dallas-Fort Worth to Auckland on AA’s 787 Dreamliner. The process is very simple, and you can earn AA miles quickly with Citi and Barclays co-branded credit cards.

Avianca LifeMiles

The last method we want to mention is useful if you want to fly United or Air New Zealand business class to New Zealand.

With Avianca LifeMiles, you have access to Star Alliance flights that depart from other airports like Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, etc. You may be willing to shell out more miles to either fly from a different airport or fly the more solid product on Air New Zealand.

But what makes LifeMiles so special is how easy it is to earn points (which we’ll get into below).

The award chart for round-trip flights to New Zealand from the U.S. is as follows:

You can book awards completely online. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Avianca website.
2. In the top-right corner, click the flag icon and change the language to English.
3. Log into your LifeMiles account.
4. On the redirected homepage, click Travel.
5. Enter your flight details, and click the blue search button.
6. Find the flight you’re looking for, and redeem your LifeMiles for the ticket.

Earning Avianca LifeMiles

As alluded to earlier, the best way to earn Avianca LifeMiles is to transfer points from Citi ThankYou Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Brex Rewards, and Capital One Miles at a 1:1 ratio.

Besides these other points currencies, you can transfer from Marriott Bonvoy at a 3:1 ratio.

Don’t have enough points? There are often huge bonuses of 125% to 200% when purchasing Avianca LifeMiles. You might have to spend around $1,000, but you’ll still come out way ahead compared to paying with cash for a flight.

Bottom Line:
Have lots of points from different banks like Amex, Chase, Citi, Capital One, Brex, and Marriott? Found Air New Zealand or United award availability? You can transfer your points from multiple programs into your Avianca LifeMiles account and book your preferred flight.

Final Thoughts

Even though New Zealand is relatively hard to get to from the U.S., there are still a lot of ways to fly there. Whether you want a nonstop flight to get there efficiently, a connecting flight to save money, or want to also visit another country — you have loads of options when planning your trip!

Finding award availability from the U.S. to New Zealand can be tricky, especially from cities like Los Angeles. But if you do your due diligence and plan far enough in advance, it’s definitely worth it!

The information regarding the Marriott Bonvoy Bold^® Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless^® Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

For rates and fees of The Platinum Card^® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of the American Express^® Gold Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express^® Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant^® American Express^® card, click here.