5 Money-Saving Tips for Flying to New Zealand with Kids

1. Ask for a Children’s Discount

Families who have only flown domestically often don’t realise that long-haul international flights have children’s fares! For instance, Air New Zealand‘s long-haul flights have under 12s’ fares that are 75% of an adult fare. Additionally, a fare for under 2 years old is 10% of the adult fare, which also applies for international flights with Qantas. Whatever airline you’re flying with, be sure to ask or research about children’s fares.

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2. Pack as Lightly as Possible

Where many families wrack up the expenses on flights is excess luggage. For most international flights, check-in luggage is included in every adult ticket, so pack your children’s clothes between the adult/adults’ bags instead of paying extra for extra luggage. Find out how to pack lightly by following our complete New Zealand packing list.

If you think you’ll take more luggage, some airlines also include one check-in bag per child fare, such as with Air New Zealand and Cathay Pacific.

In addition, look out for airlines that allow a pram/stroller/buggy, child car seats or bassinet/port-a-cots in their baggage allowance for families. Note that child seats and port-a-cots are often already available in New Zealand accommodations, so you may not need to pack those.

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3. Be Flexible with Your Seat Selection

While you certainly don’t want the whole family to be spread across the whole plane, sitting all together often comes at a premium. If you’re a family of five, then seating two together then three together elsewhere may work out a lot cheaper than all on the same row. Play with your options when booking.

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4. Be Flexible with Your Dates

With school holidays being a factor, it’s not always easy to be flexible with your travel dates. Note, however, that the New Zealand peak season is December to February, so flights during these months tend to be at their most costly. In addition, flying mid-week is usually cheaper than the weekend, while booking in advance (one to four months ahead) tends to bring cheaper options than last-minute bookings. For more general money-saving tips on flights to New Zealand, head to How to Book a Cheap Flight to New Zealand.

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5. Search for Flights Using a Private Browser

Finally, quite likely our most important money-saving tip for flying to New Zealand with kids is using a private browser to research flights. Airline websites are notorious for using cookies to track what prices you have seen to only increase the prices once you visit their website again! This invokes families to panic-buys tickets before they get too expensive. Using a private browser, such as a “New Incognito Window” in Google Chrome or “New Private Window” on Firefox will allow you to browse without that annoying cookie history getting in your way.

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