When it comes to January in New Zealand, there might not be anything better. And that goes for booking flights there, too, not just traveling.
January is the peak of peak summer all over New Zealand. The sun shines longest and brightest in January, making it the single best month to visit weather-wise during our worst month of the year, here. But if you're sitting here at home, you shouldn't let the FOMO win. That's because it's also the best time of year to book flights to New Zealand and plan an epic trip of your own.
Right now, airfare to travel to New Zealand this February, March, April, and May is as low as it gets. And you're not missing out on the great weather, either. Our spring is New Zealand's fall – still an amazing time to visit.
Beyond the weather, here's why you should be thinking about New Zealand right now, though…
That's at least half-off what you can normally expect to pay for roundtrip flights to New Zealand! This is just one of the several Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deals we found over the last few weeks flying to New Zealand in 2025.
Auckland, New Zealand from $557 RT
If all of your searches for flights to New Zealand have been $1,200 or higher, you're not doing anything wrong. That's just the going rate for roundtrip flights … usually. In the last few weeks, however, that has changed in a big way.
We saw the Los Angeles (LAX) nonstop flight above for just $557 roundtrip, but a few weeks ago we also found this flight from San Francisco (SFO), connecting through LAX to Auckland (AKL) for just one dollar more!
Delta has been driving down New Zealand airfare since the airline launched the nonstop service in 2023, but it's certainly not alone anymore. Now, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, American, Delta, Hawaiian, Qantas, and United all fly nonstop to Auckland from North America.
That level of competition makes these carriers fight with each other for your business, meaning prices dip below $900, or even $800 roundtrip every year around this time.
Just a few weeks ago, we found this flight deal flying to Auckland with fares under $799 roundtrip from an impressive list of cities. And just because you live in a smaller-sized U.S. city, doesn't mean you can't take advantage of fares like these! Folks in Redmond (RDM), Medford (MFR), and Billings (BIL) all saw some of these historically cheap fares.
But it got better. A few days after that, some of these fares dropped again, and some other airports got in the mix, too.
We track these fares every day, so when the price goes down, we always alert our Thrifty Traveler Premium members with email alerts like these. That way you don't have to track airfare yourself or waste hours searching after work.
And if you're searching for airfare on your own, you're less likely to know about one of the most intriguing ways to get to New Zealand in 2025, too: Through Fiji.
These fares from the West Coast and Hawaii down to Australia and New Zealand are cheap – and that's reason enough to want to book them. But these fares all have one thing in common: They're flying Fiji Airways. When you fly Fiji Airways, you have to make a connection in Fiji (NAN), which means you can book a stopover in Fiji for up to a week at the beginning or end of your trip for no additional cost!
Want to hit the beaches of Fiji for two or three days to break up the long journey back from an adventure in New Zealand? I sure do. Maybe I'll meet you there!
Use Your Points & Miles, Too!
What's better than a cheap flight? A flight where you use your points and miles and only have to pay the taxes and fees instead.
Whether you want to fly in economy or up front, using your points and miles is a great way to take the sting off the high fares to fly all the way around the world.
If you have a stash of Delta SkyMiles, you're well positioned to get the best deal on flights down to Auckland this year.
This fare was from a SkyMiles deal we sent a few months ago, highlighting roundtrip fares from 40,000-mile and 50,000-mile range to AKL. With a Delta SkyMiles credit card and its TakeOff 15 benefit for 15% off SkyMiles tickets, you can knock that lowest fare down to just 39,000 SkyMiles and $94 roundtrip!
That's an insane value for the number of miles you're flying, and you might already have the points to make it happen. But if you've really been hoarding your SkyMiles, we found some half-off fares flying Delta One Suites down to New Zealand, too.
With that 15% off award bookings Delta cardholder benefit, you can knock these roundtrip fares down to under 300,000 SkyMiles roundtrip. While it's not the best deal in the world, we sent this alert because of how easy to earn SkyMiles are and how hard it is to find any award availability at all flying to New Zealand in a lie-flat seat (Delta or not).
The base rate on these is 350,000 SkyMiles roundtrip, but you can get the same rate whether you're flying from a major airport like Los Angeles (LAX) or smaller one like Little Rock, Arkansas (LIT).
For travelers without SkyMiles, it's not impossible to find another way down to New Zealand – and in style, too.
This Qantas Business Class seat flies between New York (JFK) and Auckland (AKL) every day, but it's exceedingly hard to book with points and miles. So when it popped open one day, we raced to get our members a first crack at booking it.
These business class fares are long gone – get the next one in your inbox with Thrifty Traveler Premium!
We labeled it a “Unicorn Fare” because of how rare this actually is, especially for two passengers. It's one of the longest flights in the world at over 17 hours, so having a suite like this on the trip down there is incredibly handy!
Use those points! They're not doing you any good in your account and they aren't getting more valuable. For a long trip down to Auckland, using your points and miles is almost always a great deal.
What About the Rest of New Zealand?
There's so much more to New Zealand than just Auckland. In fact, the best parts of the country can be found elsewhere.
You may want to make the road trip from Auckland to the Hobbiton set from “The Lord of the Rings,” for instance. Or maybe visit Christchurch or Queenstown on the South Island to visit the mountains, go skiing, or visit famed Milford Sound. You should do all those things!
Read our guide to New Zealand on a budget!
But, to get to New Zealand for cheap, you need to aim for Auckland (AKL), because that's where flights are the cheapest. And from there, flights in and around New Zealand are extremely convenient and inexpensive.
This Google Flights Explore search of flights from Auckland (AKL) (the red dot at the top) to the rest of the country are for roundtrip fares! Start in Auckland and go from there to save.
Bottom Line
It's peak season in New Zealand – both for traveling and booking cheap flights.
Our team of flight deal analysts have noticed a major trend: Inexpensive flights to New Zealand for 2025 are abundant right now, so don't miss out while fares are still this low.