American Airlines announced another move into the fascinating region of Australia and New Zealand with the addition to their route map of Los Angeles to Auckland starting sometime next June (pending regulatory approval). This will be a welcome relief to those with AA miles wanting to explore New Zealand and should also help those who are regular Air New Zealand passengers as they are going to lose a bit of their grip on the US-New Zealand market to be able to get lower prices (though Air New Zealand does fly to several cities in the US with Houston to become the newest one next month).
The AA 787 will be heading to Auckland! | From AA.com
I only spent a couple of hours on the ground in Auckland and would love to visit there sometime. Since I am building up more of my AA mileage balance, hopefully I will be able to take advantage of this new AA route at some point! American Airlines will be using a 787 Dreamliner on that route, according to the reports. For those who will be using miles as well, it will cost 37,500 miles one way in coach and 62,500 miles one way in business.
Anyone else excited about the new player on the US-New Zealand route?
This is great news! More choices and competition are never a bad thing. I do wish it weren’t on the 787 with its cramped Y seats but, better than nothing.
Auckland is okay for a day’s visit, but the real beauty and charm of NZ is outside in the smaller towns and rural areas, IMHO. But plenty easy to get elsewhere in NZ once you’ve landed there!