Airfares to Australia

[turtlemichael]

I came across the following Qantas link for airfares to and within Australia from the US. It might be of interest to American cruisers embarking in Australia who want to also see a bit of the country beyond the scope of their cruise. I do not know how the fares compare to others available in the American market but they certainly look OK to me.

 

Hope it is useful anyway. It is a link that will probably be updated as more seasons are priced by Qantas.

 

http://www.australia.com/deals/Deals_listings/qantas_airpass_0405/Deals_Product_US.aust?L=en&C=US

[Aussie Gal]

The Aussie airpass is the best way to see Australia. For $999Aud it is a bargain. I can give you a run down on normal fares that we pay and then you can see how much you are saving.

 

From Melbourne to Sydney the normal one way economy class airfare is $263Aud, from Sydney to Brisbane it is around $263Aud, from Brisbane to Cairns it is $448Aud, from Cairns to Darwin it is $484Aud, from Darwin to Alice Springs it is $426Aud, from Alice Springs to Perth it is $563Aud and from Perth to Melbourne it is $594Aud.

 

These fares are the average fare - Flexi Saver Fares. There are two cheaper catagories, the Red E deal and Super Saver but these are practically impossible to book if you are not here in the country and are not flexible.

 

Jennie

[Globaliser]

The Aussie airpass is the best way to see Australia. For $999Aud it is a bargain. ... There are two cheaper catagories, the Red E deal and Super Saver but these are practically impossible to book if you are not here in the country and are not flexible.

I think that's USD 999 and up - this pass is advertised on the Qantas US website.

 

Those cheap domestic tickets are now dead easy to book from outside Australia. All you need to do is to get onto the main Qantas website (the Australian site) and book them there. It takes overseas credit cards with no hassle - I do this all the time.

[Aussie Gal]

Globiliser,

 

I disagree that the cheap airfares are easy to book. None of us here in Oz can seem to get the cheap airfares that Qantas advertises. They either leave on the very first flight of the day or the very last flight at night. You have to be sitting at a computer waiting for the Red e Deals to be announced to find any really cheap seats.

 

I still think that the Airpass is the cheapest way to travel around Australia. Even if you managed to buy the second cheapest airfare which is the Super saver, those airfares are still hard to come by and you need to book months in advance to get the cheap seats.

 

Jennie

[Globaliser]

Sorry, Jennie, it was only because I'd read your post as suggesting that it was more difficult to book red e-deals from outside Australia than to book them from inside.

 

I'm not sure that it is that difficult to get a red e-deal, though. I took Sydney to Melbourne as a test on random dates - 5 March returning 9 March. On the outbound (Saturday) there's red e-deals on 10 out of 22 flights, and on the return (Wednesday) they're on 18 out of 35 flights. Moreover, on the majority of the flights on which you can get red e-deals, you can get them at the lead-in price (the lowest advertised "specials" price"). This is only 4½ weeks away, so we're not talking about booking months ahead.

 

Even for a thinner route like Adelaide to Brisbane, there are red e-deals still available on all three flights each way on those dates. Again, these are all at the lead-in price.

 

Considering that the airpass' additional domestic sectors are USD 100 = AUD 130 each, and they're pretty inflexible themselves (any date change costs USD 100 per transaction, no rerouting allowed), I would have thought that many travellers would actually do better using only the three included domestic sectors and then buying red e-deals directly for the remaining domestic travel. What isn't clear is whether the airpass allows surface sectors - if it does, then the canny traveller would use the airpass to pay for the more expensive domestic sectors (eg ADL-BNE) and then buy the cheap red e-deals on the thick trunk routes (eg SYD-MEL, SYD-CBR, SYD-BNE).

 

Another thing that isn't clear is whether, if you're flying from NYC, you can use the QF service to go from JFK to LAX. That is such a treat for anyone who is used to flying that route on a US airline.

[turtlemichael]

My point was that the Airpass, as promoted on the link in my message above, represents a great deal for American travellers to Australia. As an example, for US999.00 you can get from the LAX to Sydney and home again and do three internal flights, say Sydney-Melbourne, Melbourne-Adelaide, Adelaide-Sydney.

 

Given that the whole deal including the international travel is on Qantas, one of the very good airlines and apparently safe from bankruptcy, the is extremely good value. Buying a separate international ticket and three domestic tickets, Red-E specials or not, would almost certainly be more expensive.

 

Obviously, everyone needs to look at whether certain tickets are best for them in their circumstances. I just wish I had access to the same cost deal when I do the reverse trip to the US.

[Globaliser]

My point was that the Airpass, as promoted on the link in my message above, represents a great deal for American travellers to Australia. As an example, for US999.00 you can get from the LAX to Sydney and home again and do three internal flights, say Sydney-Melbourne, Melbourne-Adelaide, Adelaide-Sydney.

 

Given that the whole deal including the international travel is on Qantas, one of the very good airlines and apparently safe from bankruptcy, the is extremely good value. Buying a separate international ticket and three domestic tickets, Red-E specials or not, would almost certainly be more expensive.

Oh, yes, I absolutely agree with this.

 

However, it's still the case that when you've done your three included domestics on the airpass, additional domestic sectors may well be cheaper and no less flexible if you book them directly with QF rather than shelling out USD 100 per sector to add them to the airpass.

[Globaliser]

One thing to add, which I've just found out about.

 

Qantas has started a domestic low-fare airline called Jetstar (although many people have much ruder nicknames for it than that). It's the usual low-fare rubbish - no personal space on board, no food or drink unless you pay extra (and through the nose) for it, scrum to board, etc. etc. This unit has taken over some of the leisure routes which used to be served by Qantas itself, with its much higher service levels.

 

However, some JQ flights still carry QF codes, and so if you book one of these airpasses you might end up on a JQ flight even though you're booked on a QF code. That could be a nasty shock - particularly if you end up forking out USD 100 per sector for it.

 

It's always worth checking, therefore, exactly which airline is operating which sector. Not that you can do very much about it if all flights on the route have been transferred to JQ, but at least you'll be forewarned and you can make informed decisions.

[Aussie Gal]

Also be careful which airport Jetstar is going to land at. In Melbourne, Jetstar can land at Tullamarine - our main Melbourne airport - or it can land at Avalon, which is miles from Melbourne, three quarters of the way to Geelong. If you land there it will cost you a fortune for a taxi back to the city.

 

 

Jetstar, besides doing the holiday routes also does the main routes. It is much, much cheaper than Qantas, but of course you do not get any tea or coffee served. If you do not want to pay out big money, it serves its purpose. eg. A fare from Melbourne to Hobart is only $39 plus taxes which brings it up to $59Aud! Qantas cannot match that sort of fare and doesn't want to.

 

Jennie