What's up with ANZ?

This year I'm having problems getting a reasonable (less than $900) price for LAX-Rarotonga tickets on ANZ for the Nov-Jan time frame.

Any ideas, comments?

I know it can be a pain and takes longer but check out going through NZ. Some times the fares are actually cheaper. Another option is to come through Tahiti. I know that the direct flight is the easiest and if that's what you want you may be stuck with what ANZ is offering.

Also if you haven't checked with Costco Travel they usually have some pretty good deals to the Cooks. Those of us who live here would kill for a $900 US fare from Raro to LAX return. It costs us a lot more to fly the other way for some reason.

Finally pushed the button on the tickets.... too late for a good deal ($1,200 US LAX-RAR ret)... This year direct LAX-RAR has been consistently cheaper than routing through AKL.

The Costco deal is just a travel agency that prices the tickets at the time you make the booking. Apparently they don't have any blocked seats at the advertised "starting at" or "as low as" price they advertise on the Costco web site.

The problem this year was that ANZ just leapfrogged over the Oct-Jan time period and never had sub-$900 deal like they had in August 2012 and March 2013.

As a frequent Rarotonga visitor, I can tell you that anything less than $1,000.00 is a good deal on LAX to RAR. On rare occasions, ANZ discounts as low as $800.00, for the roundtrip. It is, or has been, in recent times, non-stop, with decent food and for most comfortable seats (I'm 6'5" and 350 lbs) all in all a descent bargain as far as I am concerned.

Papa Mike

In the past we've usually managed to get them in the $700-$800 range. But that was when the USD was exchanging at $1.35-1.50NZD. Now it's $1USD to $1.20NZD thanks to "Quantitative Easing."

Have you always travelled in the southern summer? that is high season in the southern hemisphere.

Although the southern hemisphere summer the high season for NZ and AU, it's the low season for the Cook Islands. Just like the high season for HI is the northern winter.

In the past I was able to get bargain fares on trips to NZ with a Fiji stopover by booking LAX-Nadi then buying a Nadi-Auckland ticket on the Fiji ANZ site.in the Nov-Jan timeframe.

I think this is also true for just about any tropical destination (0 to 30 degrees S latitude) in the SP. Probably because most of their visitors are trying to escape the AU and NZ winters.

However, many islanders studying overseas return home for Christmas.

That's true... They tend to pretty much fill the flights two weeks before and after Christmas. I don't think ANZ takes any action to accommodate the extra traffic, but Air Raro schedules extra flights to meet the increased demand for flights to the outer islands.

It is however, a great time to be in the Cooks. There are headstone unveilings, hair cutting ceremonies and lots of celebrations going on not to mention the added voices singing in church on Sunday. It's a good opportunity to experience the culture first-hand.