I have been fortunate enough to have done quite a bit of travelling over the years, but up until quite recently, I never bothered with airline frequent flyer programs. I don't know why. Maybe I was just young and dumb, I guess? But that changed at the end of 2014, when Air New Zealand had a spate of pretty decent deals on long-haul flights to places I wanted to go to. So I snapped those deals up. Plus, I was talked into purchasing a Koru membership, which incentivized me to fly almost exclusively with Air NZ. I was also fortunate enough to get an expensive last minute return flight to the US paid for by my employer. All this convinced me to try and go for Elite (the top tier in Air NZ's Airpoints frequent flyer program).
I managed to get there in the end. Below are some statistics for my qualification period (September 3rd 2014 to September 2nd 2015). I only listed flights that counted towards my Air New Zealand Airpoints status qualification.
Total flights flown:
63
Distance flown:
Just over 78,000 miles
International flights:
Christchurch to Singapore (via Auckland) return
Christchurch to San Francisco (via Auckland) return
Christchurch to Beijing (via Auckland and Hong Kong) return (Air NZ and Air China)
Christchurch to Los Angeles (via Auckland) return
Christchurch to Brisbane return
Brisbane to Christchurch one way
Vienna to Valencia (via Zurich) one way (Swiss Airlines)
NZ domestic flights:
Christchurch to Wellington return x8
Christchurch to Auckland return x4
Christchurch to Invercargill return
Christchurch to Hokitika return
Christchurch to Nelson return
Non-NZ domestic:
Beijing to Dalian one way (Air China)
United flights x9 (distance-wise about the equivalent of flying across the US 3 times)
Total status points from flights:
1399 (the rest came from credit card spend)
Total cost of plane tickets:
About $11,600 NZD
I imagine most people who achieve Elite status do so by flying in premium cabins and racking up a lot of status points per flight...or maybe flying heaps for work. Not me. Apart from two first class and two business class flights on United, I always bought the cheapest ticket I could. I had been hoping not to have to do any points running (miles running), but a closer read of the eligibility requirements for Elite revealed that I was about 40 points short of the amount that needed to be accrued on Air NZ flights. Which meant I needed to take 3 Christchurch to Wellington return flights. So all up, going for Elite cost me an extra $1000, one day of my holiday in the US (taking 4 flights to get from New York to Seattle), and three workday evenings (those Chch -Welly flights were not fun).
Was it worth it? I'd say so. So far, being Air New Zealand Elite has gotten me (or will get me):
- an extra year of Star Gold status/Koru, which is about $430 value (how much Koru costs with a platinum airpoints credit card)
- the ability to gift Koru equivalent to one person (another $430)
- a short haul upgrade that got my mum upgraded from premium economy to business on a trans-Tasman flight (about $600 value)
- a free upgrade to Economy Plus on a United flight from Sydney to Los Angeles (coupla hundred bucks?)
- moved to a Skycouch row on a flight from Perth to Auckland (maybe $1000 value over the top of my ticket)
- status matched to Alitalia Freccia Alata Plus, which gives me Skyteam Elite Plus. This also gave me the ability to gift Freccia Alata (Skyteam Elite) to someone. This is of questionable value, because I am unlikely to fly Alitalia or any other Skyteam airline (but the membership card is cool)
There was also the thrill of trying to get to Elite as cheaply as possible. I am slightly bummed out now that status points are essentially useless to me for the next year. I am not going to fly enough to re-qualify as Elite and Air New Zealand has a soft landing (so it doesn't matter if I get 0 status points this year, I will have Gold status next year).
I guess I should try and save some cash and not blow all my disposable income on travel.
