I find the idea of doing a round-the-world trip in NZ Y+ to bookend a European holiday as appealing. Potential itinerary would probably be SYD-AKL-HKG-LHR-LAX - (surface) - SFO-AKL-SYD, but I might decide to catch the NZ codeshare on Virgin Atlantic up to HKG (although this sacrifices a lot of potential SCs - even assuming I earn SCs on the VA codeshare at the NZ earn rate rather than the miserly VA velocity SC earn rate, I'll be 70 SC better off doing SYD-AKL-HKG than SYD-HKG!) I'm doing the LAX-SFO ground leg to make the pain of going through immigration in the US worthwhile, although I think this will mean we only get Spaceseats from LHR-LAX, and will be in the old PE product on all other legs, unless the refit picks up speed and the 747-400s are pulled off the SFO-AKL route.
Based on planned travel with DJ and NZ to the end of January, my wife and I will hold 249 SCs each from 29 January to 5 August 2012, so unless Family Status Pooling is in place (this trip will be in mid-2012) and we can combine previous flights, we'll just be lowly Silvers (qualifying with 219 SCs on 30 December - just before the 250 SC deadline). I'm a paid DJ lounge member.
The question is: lounge access. Y+ fares don't come with "natural" lounge rights on either VA or NZ, which is understandable. Assuming I fly the SYD-AKL-HKG route, I know I can get access to the Koru Club in Sydney as a paid lounge member. But from there it's murky. The DJ/Koru Club websites indicate access for DJ lounge members on "trans tasman" flights only. So does that rule me out of lounge access in AKL for the AKL-HKG leg? I can understand why NZ doesn't want Pacific Blue pax lounging in the Koru Club ahead of their flights, but I don't see a similar conflict with flights into Asia or the US.
From HKG onward, I'm guessing it's all contract lounges, so I assume there's no chance of entry.
Would being DJ Gold help at all? Or would I be better off joining the US Airways Club to get Star Alliance lounge access? For the number of lounge visits we'll have over that trip I'd be inclined to view the US Airways Club fee (USD$475 incl. joining fee - compared to Koru at ~$600 AUD) as worthwhile. Unless someone can point out how to get two people around the world in business class on DJ aligned airlines for $10k!
Based on planned travel with DJ and NZ to the end of January, my wife and I will hold 249 SCs each from 29 January to 5 August 2012, so unless Family Status Pooling is in place (this trip will be in mid-2012) and we can combine previous flights, we'll just be lowly Silvers (qualifying with 219 SCs on 30 December - just before the 250 SC deadline). I'm a paid DJ lounge member.
The question is: lounge access. Y+ fares don't come with "natural" lounge rights on either VA or NZ, which is understandable. Assuming I fly the SYD-AKL-HKG route, I know I can get access to the Koru Club in Sydney as a paid lounge member. But from there it's murky. The DJ/Koru Club websites indicate access for DJ lounge members on "trans tasman" flights only. So does that rule me out of lounge access in AKL for the AKL-HKG leg? I can understand why NZ doesn't want Pacific Blue pax lounging in the Koru Club ahead of their flights, but I don't see a similar conflict with flights into Asia or the US.
From HKG onward, I'm guessing it's all contract lounges, so I assume there's no chance of entry.
Would being DJ Gold help at all? Or would I be better off joining the US Airways Club to get Star Alliance lounge access? For the number of lounge visits we'll have over that trip I'd be inclined to view the US Airways Club fee (USD$475 incl. joining fee - compared to Koru at ~$600 AUD) as worthwhile. Unless someone can point out how to get two people around the world in business class on DJ aligned airlines for $10k!
