Air NZ Airpoints™ Flexipay Review
Updated 15 April 2019
Summary of Flexipay
- Air New Zealand now lets you pay for a flight with a mix of Airpoints Dollars and cash, but for every Airpoint you use you'll have to pay a 10% fee.
- Any airfare purchased with Flexipay earns 20% of the standard earn rates of Airpoints Dollars and Status Credits, regardless of whether the airfare was 80% paid for in Airpoints or 20%.
- Flexipay offers a way for loyalty customers to use up small balances of Airpoints Dollars if they wouldn't usually have enough in their account a sufficient balance for one flight.
Flexipay: More Flexibility in Redeeming Airpoints Dollars, But Watch that 10% Surcharge
From November 2017, Airpoints Flexipay lets you pay for any Air New Zealand operated and marketed flight (and many partner airline flights) using a mix of Airpoints Dollars and cash. As with any ‘enhancements’ from Air New Zealand, there are a few things to watch out for. Overall, the ability to part-pay will be especially advantageous to those with small balances earned on credit cards and occasional domestic travel.
This guide takes you through the payment option, step by step, with real examples.
This guide takes you through the payment option, step by step, with real examples.
How Does Flexipay Help Me?
|
What Does It Cost?
|
What About Earning Status Points and Airpoints Dollars on a Flexipay Fare?
|
How Can I Pay Using Flexipay?
|
Flexipay in a Nutshell - What You Need to Know:
- You can only use Flexipay via the Air New Zealand website or the Air New Zealand contact centre
- There is a 20% minimum and 90% maximum of Airpoints Dollars required for any Flexipay ticket
- You pay 10% more of the total airfare cost to use Flexipay, for example, with a $200 airfare a $100 cash payment will require a 110 Airpoints Dollars payment (100 Airpoints Dollars plus the 10% fee)
- You will receive both Airpoints Dollars and Status Points at only 20% of the fare class level. So if your airfare was meant to earn 40 Airpoints Dollars and 50 Status credits, you will instead earn 8 and 10 respectively. Most domestic fares will earn closer to zero using Flexipay.
- If you want to change your ticket, it won’t be able to be done online – you need to call the Air New Zealand contact centre and fees may, and usually do, apply.
- If you want to cancel your ticket, your ticket is classed as an Airpoints redemption ticket. As such, the refund will be made in the form of Airpoints Dollars and cash at the same level paid it in when booking.
- Eligible flights include
- All Air New Zealand marketed and operated flights
- Air New Zealand codeshare Virgin Australia operated trans-Tasman and Australian domestic services Air New Zealand codeshare United Airlines operated flights between Auckland and San Francisco (return)
- Air New Zealand codeshare flights operated by Cathay Pacific.
Watch Out For
|
Who is Flexipay Best For?
Everyone is different. Generally, however, Airpoints account holders with small Airpoints Dollar balances which don’t increase much throughout the year. Such people are perfect for using Flexipay for domestic airfare bookings.