Flying Ferrari misses the points

Mark Gittos with his Ferrari. Photo / Doug Sherring

A plastic surgeon is miffed he was refused airpoints for a $12,000 flight for his company-owned Ferrari.

Mark Gittos is a director for Scuderia Classica, which imported the car from London to Auckland on Air New Zealand.

The cost of flying the rare 1973 convertible was "basically the same cost as a business class ticket", said Gittos.

"It's my company and I thought 'couldn't they assign the airpoints to me'?" he said.

Gittos admitted it was "a cheeky thing" to ask for the points for the Italian sports car.

"I had a go - I just thought I'd try it on and I didn't get anywhere with it," he said.

Air NZ spokeswoman Tracy Mills said airpoints were only awarded to people.

"Airpoints is a reward scheme for passengers flying, not cargo," she said.

A one-way journey from London to Auckland on business class earns 370 airpoints, according to the Air NZ website.

Gittos has clinics in Auckland and London and spends up to $50,000 a year travelling on Air NZ and other carriers.

Owning a Ferrari had been a dream since Gittos had first set eyes on one as a medical student.

"The thing about the Ferrari is it's basically built for speed: it's low, it's streamlined and it's light," he said.

The car was the first in a fleet his company would purchase to hire out for corporate promotional work on television and films.