AIR New Zealand: Status match – without flying

I’m not sure how useful this will be for me, but I have just applied for a status match with Air New Zealand’s Airpoints frequent flyer scheme.

In line with the opening of international borders between New Zealand and Australia to form the trans-Tasman travel bubble, Air NZ is offering a Gold status match with anyone holding Qantas or Virgin Gold status and above.

How to do it

It’s really easy. – head over here and fill in the application form. You just need to do it before 7 May 2021:

1. Have evidence of your gold or above status with Qantas or Virgin, including validity dates – I used a screen grab on my iphone (Press the Side Button and the Volume Up button at the same time) of my Qantas card
2. Have membership of Air NZ’s Airpoints frequent flyer scheme – you can join here (You also need to decide on a user name and passport, and whether info gets sent to your business or personal address)
3. Fill in your details on the application form for the Status Match, including your Airpoints number

And then sit back and wait for your email conformation of Gold Status – your membership should be immediate.

It even looks like the fine print allows status matches from other airlines – so its worth a try – but Cathay Pacific and Star Alliance airlines are excluded.

What you get

It’s pretty standard: lounge access, seat selection, more carry-on and checked luggage as well as priority check-in, boarding and baggage. Here’s a chart of comparative benefits by status tier:

And without flying one air-mile, you will get that status for 4 months. Earn 100 status credits by actually flying, and you get a full 12 months that includes 2 ‘Recognition Upgrades’ – that’s a one step upgrade, say from Economy to Premium, or from Premium Economy to Business.

Airpoints Gold is also equal to Star Alliance Gold, which you could use on the likes of Singapore Airlines. That way you might avoid some trouble friends of mine got into recently when swapping from a Qatar flight (where they had OneWorld status and x 2 luggage) to Singapore Airlines – where they had no status. I won’t go into the details, but lets just say that they are AU$1,000 poorer because of some excess luggage.

How to earn 100 status credits

This requires some attention to detail because Air New Zealand Status Points are based on distance and your category of fare. In essence you get what you pay for. For example if you flew between Sydney and Auckland say, you could earn:

• Economy Smart Saver one way seats (earning 7 to 46 Status Points)
• Economy Flexi (earning 33-104 Status Points)
• Premium Economy (earning 33-77 Status Points)
• Business (earning 60-107 Status Points)

So you can see that you could earn your 100 points by just one sector on and Economy Flexi fare, or an expensive Business fare. Adding to the difficulty – Air NZ doesn’t seem to show you Status Points on the face of your online fare selection. You need to consult their Status Points Earning Table and even then you only get shown a range.

You can see the Status Points you will earn on the screen during the booking process where you pick your seats – see below:

It would be a lot better if they showed the Status Point earnings when selecting your fare (like Qantas does), but hay-ho.

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.