Normally our newsletter lies quiet from Friday through Sunday, but since this unheard-of $559 airfare to New Zealand starts Saturday morning at 12:01am PST—and is bound to sell out fast—we just had to send out a special edition. Yep, that’s $559, roundtrip, to fly from Los Angeles to Auckland. No foolin.
InsertArt(2011991)USUALLY, WE would crow about it if the price to NZ dropped to $899 or something. That’s right; this promotional price is nearly half what we would normally consider a very good deal. This sort of thing has never happened before, and, while waiting on hold to confirm that this price wasn’t a typo or something, this journalist started flipping through his calendar and calculating how much vacation time he had left.
Are there restrictions? Of course, the main one being that the fare of $559 is only available from LA, only via the Air New Zealand Web site (www.airnewzealand.com/usa), and only on very specific flights: NZ3 and NZ4 (that’s airlinespeak for one flight each on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays) from Sept 15 to Nov 15 (returning by Nov 23 at the latest).
If you want to fly on a another day, you can slip them an extra ninety bucks ($649) and catch any of two daily flights (NZ1, NZ2, NZ5, or NZ6 in airport language) during the same range of dates—though the Web site doesn’t seem set up for this option, so it’s best to call the airline at 800-369-6867.
You can’t waffle or take your time to consider, either; if you want the fare you must to pay for it immediately and in full with your credit card. OK, so the sale lasts until Sept 30, but we seriously doubt this fare will still be around by then. This sucker’s gonna sell out but quick. So if you’ve been considering a Kiwi vacation, I’d stay up late Saturday night and log on just after midnight PST and start clicking.
The sale isn’t even being made common knowledge until Saturday—not to the traveling public, not on the airline’s Web site, and not in the form of the press releases that daily flood our editorial email inbox, so you guys are really getting the scoop. (We stumbled across it by accident; one of our staffers had signed up to receive “special offers” on the Air NZ Web site and got a preview email that was itself accidentally sent out a day early—and one which offers the rate of $499, but only to folks who are part of that “special offers” program.) When I called to confirm, the airline admitted that the sale was coming up, but pleaded with me to remind everyone that YOU CANNOT BOOK UNTIL SATURDAY. So please don’t try. (Actually, it was supposed to be Sunday, but that early emailing snafu caught them off guard so they’re starting a day early. Hooray!)
By the way, you can also get almost-as-great rates through a travel agent or over the phone (800-369-6867), but the price rises to $599 (Wed, Fri, Sun) and $699 (twice daily), respectively.
Interestingly, there’s no advance purchase requirement whatsoever on these fares. If you call Sunday, you could conceivably buy a ticket for $599 that leaves the very next day, Monday Sept 15. There’s a minimum stay requirement of five days, and a maximum stay of one month (which for some reason is halved to a max 15 days if you purchase the cheaper Web fares).
Otherwise, these are the most restrictive ticket imaginable: only open to USA-based credit cards with USA billing addresses, no stopovers, changes, or waitlists are permitted, and it’s non-refundable, non-endorseable, and non-transferable. It’s also not an e-ticket, so add in $14.95 for the S&H to send the paper tickets to you—and another $65 in taxes, airport charges, and security fees.
For more information or—STARTING SATURDAY ONLY—bookings, call 800-369-6867 or visit www.airnewzealand.com/usa
{Editor’s Note: Have you ever been to New Zealand or flown on Air NZ? Do you have a money-saving hint, tip, or anecdote that would be helpful to other travelers? We’d love to hear it and possibly reprint it in our letters to the editor column. Simply click here to send a letter to our editors.}
Copyright © 2003 Newsweek Budget Travel, Inc.
Associate Editor Reid Bramblett writes travel guidebooks for Eyewitness, Frommer’s, and the Idiot’s and For Dummies series (yes, both of them). He joined the Budget Travel staff in 2002.