United award sale: Fly to New Zealand for 40K miles

Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers.

United Airlines is running an award sale that allows United MileagePlus members to score flights to a different destination every day until Friday.

Today, the airline is offering discounted economy award fares to New Zealand — both Auckland and Christchurch — starting at 45,000 miles (plus taxes and fees) each way.

If you have a United Chase card, the award redemption will drop to 40,000 miles (plus taxes and fees).

Remember that United’s nonstop flights from the U.S. to New Zealand take around 13 hours; the travel time will be even longer if you need to connect. Some travelers may feel this is too long to sit in an economy seat.

Today’s deal basics

Airline: United Airlines

Routes: Nonstop from San Francisco to New Zealand; other U.S. airports available with connections

How to book: Directly through United’s website

Book by: Aug. 6, 2024

Travel dates: Aug. 6, 2024, to March 31, 2025

With this deal, United MileagePlus members will find flights from the U.S. to New Zealand for 45,000 miles (plus taxes and fees). Those with a United credit card can save even more, with options starting from 40,000 miles (plus taxes and fees).

Availability is widespread across most routes except travel between Dec. 6, 2024, and Jan. 18, 2025.

Sample flights

United flies nonstop to New Zealand between San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Auckland Airport (AKL) or Christchurch International Airport (CHC).

You can also fly United to Auckland and Christchurch from other U.S. airports with stops along the way.

Nonstop availability to Auckland from SFO is not as widespread as we saw yesterday with United’s Australia award deals. However, availability does appear to increase as we reach October and November this year.

If you take the nonstop flight, you should typically board a Boeing 777-200, and the flight duration should be just over 13 hours.

Flights from SFO to CHC had even less availability. For most months, the lowest award fares we could find were for 60,500 miles. We did not see any deals for 45,000 miles until December. The flight takes around 14 hours on board a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.

Maximize your purchase

For this particular award sale, you can get the best award fares if you’re a United Chase cardholder. United has several cobranded cards with Chase to choose from. Here are some of our favorites:

United℠ Explorer Card: 2 miles per dollar spent on dining, hotel stays and United purchases, plus 1 mile per dollar spent on all other purchases
United Club℠ Infinite Card: 4 miles per dollar spent on United purchases, 2 miles per dollar spent on all other travel and dining purchases and 1 mile per dollar spent on all other purchases
United Quest℠ Card: 3 miles per dollar spent on United purchases; 2 miles per dollar spent on dining, select streaming services and other travel purchases; and 1 mile per dollar spent on all other purchases

If you don’t hold a United Chase credit card, you could also maximize your points earning by using another credit card that earns bonus points on airfare purchases, such as:

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: 2 points per dollar spent on travel
American Express® Gold Card: 3 points per dollar spent on airfare when booked directly with the airline or on AmexTravel.com
The Platinum Card® from American Express: 5 points per dollar spent on airfare when booked directly with the airline or through American Express Travel (on up to $500,000 of these purchases per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar)
Chase Sapphire Reserve®: 3 points per dollar spent on travel

Bottom line

United is releasing award fare deals every day this week for United MileagePlus members, with additional discounts available to United Chase cardmembers.

The carrier kicked things off with discounted economy award fares to Australia and now is offering similar award fares to New Zealand. The fares start at 40,000 miles for United Chase cardmembers or 45,000 miles for United MileagePlus members without a United credit card. Keep an eye on this page for further deals throughout the week.

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