Award seat availability question - Star Alliance

[HeavyElectricity]

Hi, I'm still a relative newbie here. I understand that the ANA website is useful when trying to find award seat availability on Star Alliance airlines.

I'm thinking of some travel next year, and am contemplating either direct redemptions through Virgin (on partner airlines), a transfer to Singapore (with either individual flight redemptions or a RTW award ticket), or possibly by buying some LifeMiles with the current promotion - maybe even a combination of these depending on how it all works out.

I'm trying to get my head around the various award seat availability options for Star Alliance, so I can do some real planning, and then possibly buying some LifeMiles. I thought I'd start looking for one flight that interested me so I could see how it all works. In particular AKL-EZE with Air New Zealand (I know this can be difficult, maybe this is the source of my frustration / misunderstanding).

I can see on the ANA website, that it shows J AKL-EZE award availability on June 3rd 2016.

I'm a bit confused as to the differences with other websites however:

• Virgin website shows no award seat availability (If I was thinking of using my Velocity points).
• Singapore website doesn't even show EZE as an option when searching for flight redemptions (If I was thinking of transferring Velocity points).
• LifeMiles website shows no award seat availability (If I was thinking of buying LifeMiles).

So... am I wrong with my assumptions:

• I thought Virgin allowed NZ award seat redemptions?
• I thought Singapore, as a Star Alliance member, allowed Star Alliance redemptions - how come the destination serviced by one of their partners isn't even selectable?
• I thought LifeMiles allowed Star Alliance redemptions - how come the availability is different to that shown on the ANA website.

Any tips to correct my assumptions, or to point me in the right direction would be most appreciated . Thanks!

 

[Mattg]

It would be extremely rare indeed for Air NZ to release an award seat in Business class. I've never actually seen it. The ANA website is usually pretty accurate, but you may want to double check it.

I believe that with Life Miles, you won't be allowed to book it if it doesn't appear on their website. Not sure about the others.

I think you're doing the right checks, but you're probably better off looking for flights on airlines other than NZ. I know it's a longer trip, but consider flying via North America or flying SQ to Sao Paulo via BCN. The SQ option is not that expensive considering the distance, and availability can often be found.

 

[HeavyElectricity]

Thanks, I'll investigate some other routes tonight and see how the availability across the various websites is shown with those. (Love reading your trip reports by the way!)