Turning 200k amex points into two one way business class tickets

[pwaark]

Hey team,

I need to book a one way trip from London (UK) to Wellington (NZ). I’ve 200k Amex Membership Reward points and happy to spend the cost of an economy ticket to combine with points to get to business class for two for the (28hr) flight. 

Challenge is – I can’t find anywhere I can do this at booking stage. Am I better off booking the flight first and hoping to upgrade with points later? If so – what airline offers the best/easiest option?

​​​​​​​Thanks!!

[Peter K]

A bit of a vague request. Have you looked for redemption space on all the MR partners or is it just BA.com you’ve used? Have you even looked for redemption space or are you just looking at cash tickets? Is it on amex travel you’re looking rather than on a specific airline, as you’ll need to transfer the MR to a reward program to use them for a redemption.

A one way cash ticket is likely to be more expensive than a return so that’s unlikely to be the best option.

MR can be used at 0.45p a point as a last port of call as a statement credit, but that’s not a great option.

• This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .

[Tom2]

I don’t think 200,000 MR is going to be enough points to get 2 tickets from the UK to NZ in business.

Air New Zealand using Virgin points could be an option but don’t think they release much in the way of redemption seats (should be able to check via United website).

[NorthernLass]

As I recall, there aren’t any direct flights from the UK to Wellington (something about jumbo jets not being able to land there), so an option would be to use avios or other loyalty points to go part of the way, then do the rest on a cash ticket.

[_aDifferentSimon_]

On one of the resent Qatar with avios articles Rob made the comment about return travel to Auckland.
“Business is 180k + £565 from London or 180k + €393 from Dublin.”
I’m guessing one way would be half of the points but probably pretty much the same tax.

As stated above of you need a cash single for the return that sounds expensive way of doing things. A platinum application and a couple of referrals could give you another >100k if elligable.

I lived in Welly for 5 years sometime ago. Loads of cheap flights between Auckland and the capital. Does grabaseat still exist?

• This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .