I’m assuming that you are based in LA. Well, since American Airlines switched to a one-way pricing structure some two years ago in its AAdvantage program, you simply combine the different legs of your trip. One-way awards are priced at 50% of the former roundtrip awards. The inconvenience, however, is that you cannot make any stopovers outside of North America.

Frequent flier program expert Ravindra Bhagwanini (www.globalflight.net) suggests you use a LAX-SYD flight on Qantas for 62,500 miles per person in Business Class (37,500 miles in Economy as comparison) and the same amount for Auckland-LAX on the Qantas nonstop flight as well.

‘If these nonstop options are not available, alternatives exist with Air Pacific and Air Tahiti Nui (Air Tahiti Nui from New Zealand only) [note that AAdvantage members can’t use awards on Hawaiian Airlines to Australia although Hawaiian is a program partner, too - so this is no alternative]. Given the high demand on these routes, I recommend, however, making award reservations in good time and be a bit flexible in terms of dates and routings.’

You can also use their miles for a one-way flight between Australia and New Zealand on Qantas, which runs at 10,000 miles per person in Economy Class only (17,500 in Business Class). But it should not be too difficult to find a good bargain on these routes whether or not you want to use miles, given the strong competition on the Trans-Tasman flights (including flights operated by foreign carriers such as Emirates).

The total price for two in Business Class on long-haul flights and using an Economy award ticket between Australia and New Zealand would be 270,000 miles.