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hope someone can help explain V.Blue's Blue Economy (or Promo) rate that is usually the cheapest rate for flights then other prices are listed.

 

any info would be appreciated. we are trying to decide if we should book flights here (Canada) or should we wait until we arrive in Australia (and take our chances on flight specials)

 

we would like to fly SYD--MEL, then after a while, fly form MEL--Cairns, eventually Cairns back to SYD.

 

TIA:)

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hope someone can help explain V.Blue's Blue Economy (or Promo) rate that is usually the cheapest rate for flights then other prices are listed.

 

any info would be appreciated. we are trying to decide if we should book flights here (Canada) or should we wait until we arrive in Australia (and take our chances on flight specials)

 

we would like to fly SYD--MEL, then after a while, fly form MEL--Cairns, eventually Cairns back to SYD.

Are you talking about the Blue Saver? The differences between the Blue Saver and other Virgin Blue fare types are explained on this page.

 

As with all airlines, more flexible fares will tend to be more expensive - sometimes substantially so.

 

If you wait before booking, you run the risk of not being able to get access to the lowest fares because they will tend to sell out (or be withdrawn from sale) first. As the flight gets closer, fares tend to go up. Of course, you could get lucky and run into a sale - but that's gambling.

 

Don't forget that Qantas also flies all the routes you're interested in. Qantas' fares are often comparable to Virgin Blue's (and sometimes cheaper), but Qantas service levels tend to be higher.

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Globaliser is totally right. Also, you should subscribe on their websites to both Qantas and Virgin regarding their deals. At times their deals are so hot that they sell out within an hour, so if you subscribe to your mobile or email then you will have a better chance of grabbing a seat at an amazing bargain.

 

Be aware though that different discount airlines fly into different airports. Make sure you look into the specific airports too. This is not a prob for Syd as we only have Kingsford Smith (that is Sydney's main airport) that is used for mainline and discount carriers. Melbourne however has two airports, one central the other not. Please - buyer beware!

 

I can say that I have never flown Virgin and stick with Qantas. My wife has flown both. I know friends who only fly Virgin. Each to his own, and I don't want to bag out Virgin, but you need to be aware that for the virgin fare, NOTHING is included. You purchase all liquids (including water) and foods. There is no entertainment, and the staff tend to be less experienced - which is great for the eye candy;) , but if there is an emergency, give me Qantas!:eek:

 

Qantas however has meals and beverages included. With some of their cityflyer services, alcohol is included too. By the way, their food is good quality - compared with many Nth American airlines anyway. So, if you save $15 to go with Virgin, you may end up paying for it anyway with the drink and food you may like and the paper. Also, the Qantas terminal is beautiful, the Virgin one.... sigh. Each to his own! Good luck getting your flights to suit your needs!

 

Mark.:D

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Well folks, I have flown on both QANTAS and Virgin ... often. My opinion:

 

Safety: Both Equal

Aircraft age: Virgin aircraft are "generally" younger

Service: QANTAS provides food and drink, on Virgin you buy it

Entertainment: QANTAS has audio & roof top TV, Virgin has audio only

Fares: Generally very similar ... depending on who has the best specials at the time ... so schedule can be a determining factor

 

The Clincher: For me, especially on a long sector (eg SYD-CNS) I always choose Virgin because you can purchase (for A$30 per sector) an exit row seat (39" seat pitch as opposed to around 31" for both QANTAS & Virgin Economy) N.B. thes seats are called "Blue Zone" seats and can only be purchased through the Call Centre. You can book seats on the Internet and then upgrade them to Blue Zone once you get here.

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Entertainment: QANTAS has audio & roof top TV, Virgin has audio only

 

Virgin Blue now has Video entertainment on selected aircraft (they are gradually installing it on all their aircraft)

 

 

The Clincher: For me, especially on a long sector (eg SYD-CNS) I always choose Virgin because you can purchase (for A$30 per sector) an exit row seat (39" seat pitch as opposed to around 31" for both QANTAS & Virgin Economy) N.B. thes seats are called "Blue Zone" seats and can only be purchased through the Call Centre. You can book seats on the Internet and then upgrade them to Blue Zone once you get here.

 

If you are feeling lucky and don't want to pay the extra, you can ask at check-in to be seated in an emergency row. If they haven't sold those seats, there is a good possibility they will seat you there providing you fit the safety criteria.

 

Also, at selected airports (Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and possibly Adelaide) Virgin Blue have lounges available. You don't need to be a member, for $30, you can have a day pass which entitles you to many comforts including free food and drink (alcohol included) and movies.

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thanks for the replies; will register with Qantas now for their specials. already on with V. blue website. paying the $30 extra sounds good too.

will keep my eyes open for specials!;)

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thanks for the replies; will register with Qantas now for their specials. already on with V. blue website. paying the $30 extra sounds good too.

will keep my eyes open for specials!;)

 

You can also try Jetstar (www.jetstar.com) QANTAS' "budget" carrier. Word of warning though, Jetstar adhere to very strict T&C so make sure you read them before you book anything with them.

 

Also, Jetstar fly out of two ports in Melbourne, Melbourne Tullamarine and Avalon Airports. Tullamarine is close to the city and has a regular bus shuttle "Skybus". Avalon is approx. 30 to 45 mins drive from Melbourne CBD, not sure of the transfers to there, but from what I've read, aren't as good as to Tullamarine and a bit more expensive.

 

Good Luck and happy traveling,

Trevor.

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will register with Qantas now for their specials.
FWIW, I got an email this morning saying there's a 5-day sale on, book by 7 May. Don't get too excited - these come along pretty regularly. But you might want to have a look at prices over the next couple of days on both airlines - Virgin may match, or this may be a match of Virgin fares.
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  • 2 weeks later...

I personally prefer Qantas (for several of the reasons above but also so I can get ff pts) but regularly fly Virgin because of price - everday Virgin have a happy hour where you can often pick up good fares (nothing like they were last year though:( ) so if you know your dates and you are patient you can watch their dailiy specials you might get lucky!

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CassCruise, when is Happy Hour for the specials? and then I will try to convert the time to Pacific West coast time, ha, ha!

 

we are trying to book SYD-MEL, MEL-Cairns, then Cairns--SYD and I don't see too many specials but maybe I am not looking at the correct time of the day!:cool:

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Hi cruzisme - I just realised you are now on our rollcall - welcome - I have pasted the link to our site (hence I saw you are now there) as I had posted some prices etc last week when I saw a few good (relevant timed) fares - so if you have a look at the time I posted (mine is EST so can't help) you should be able to work out the time but Syd/Bris time it is 12pm-1pm daily and the dates can vary hugely so it is just a case of looking everyday! good luck!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=10130247#post10130247

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We fly both Qantas and Virgin Blue. Virgin Blue flies into the same airport as Qantas in Melbourne, the main airport of Melbourne. I would definitely steer away from Jetstar as they fly out of an airport in Melbourne called Avalon which is about 40kms from the city. Also, be very careful when booking Qantas that you are not being put on a Jetstar flight as there is no comparision and yet Jetstar is an off shoot of Qantas. Jetstar cannot be compared to Virgin and Virgin is a step or two below Qantas.

 

The cost of flights internally in Australia will be getting cheaper as this year goes on because a new airline is commencing here called Tiger airways which is an off shoot of Singapore airlines. It is due to commence here sometime after August and the forecast is for a price war between all the airlines so if you can try and wait until then.

 

Jennie

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The cost of flights internally in Australia will be getting cheaper as this year goes on because a new airline is commencing here called Tiger airways which is an off shoot of Singapore airlines. It is due to commence here sometime after August and the forecast is for a price war between all the airlines so if you can try and wait until then.Jennie

 

I realize that this is a Virgin thread, but there have been several comments here regarding fares for both Virgin and Qantas and mention of sales by both. I'm looking at fares in and out of Uluru on Qantas as this seems to be the only available carrier. I have been seeing $360 from Cairns to Uluru and $240 Uluru to Sydney. Does anyone know - is this as good as it gets? I'm worried about waiting too long and missing out on even these fares. I also suspect since Qantas has a monopoly position on these routes that they may never go on sale.:(

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Shamrock,

 

I doubt if you will get better fares than the ones you have already. Uluru is a tourist destination and therefore the airlines can charge what they like. As far as I know, Qantas is the only airline that flies into and out of Uluru.

 

There will be no discounting on these routes as the new airline will only be flying between our capital cities. eg. Melbourne to Sydney, Sydney to Brisbane etc.

 

Qantas had a sale that ended last week on certain routes, but I don't think Uluru was one of them.

 

Jennie

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Shamrock,

 

I doubt if you will get better fares than the ones you have already. Uluru is a tourist destination and therefore the airlines can charge what they like. As far as I know, Qantas is the only airline that flies into and out of Uluru.

 

There will be no discounting on these routes as the new airline will only be flying between our capital cities. eg. Melbourne to Sydney, Sydney to Brisbane etc.

 

Qantas had a sale that ended last week on certain routes, but I don't think Uluru was one of them.

 

Jennie

 

I think Tiger will be flying to major regional ports too. I know they are keen to fly into Rockhampton and the council here seem to think it will happen.

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As Tiger Air are only starting off with 5 planes, I think it will be a little while before they get to the regional airports. I know they hope to grow quickly to 20 planes but that will take time. In the meantime, there will be bargains for those wanting to fly between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. They are being based in Melbourne, so we will be getting the advantage of the cheaper fares.

 

Jennie

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For the SYD-MEL flights, you will have about 50 or so to choose from (it is the third busiest route in the world). Jetstar flies into Avalon from Sydney. I've flown in and out of Avalon the last two weekends, and found absolutely nothing wrong with it (then again I only paid $22 for the fare one way).

For the MEL-CNS leg, Jetstar flies from Tullamarine (the main airport). If you like the 'finer' things, then stick to Qantas. It is a very expensive meal that you end up paying for if the fare is more than $20 in difference. Jetstar have wider and more comfortable seats than Virgin or Qantas, but the legroom is limited.

Virgin Blue does have decent legroom on some of their 737-800's. I flew SYD-MEL once in Row 2 and had about 36" seat pitch. I couldn't even reach the seat in front of me!!:eek:

Virgin Blue has recently introduced Live2Air which had Foxtel (Pay TV), similar to Jetblue and Frontier, but costs $6 for the duration of the flight.

Qantas has more flights than Virgin Blue or Jetstar, but more and more leisure flights ie CNS flights are being replaced with JQ (Jetstar) flights. You may book a QF (Qantas flight) now, but in 6 months time it may be replaced with a JQ flight.:rolleyes:

In the end our budget flights is similar in taking a flight with AA or UA, you pay for what you use.

To me cost is everything, and I don't care about paying for a cup of coffee. I'd rather have the extra $50 or $60 to spend on my holiday.

Anyway..my two cents worth:o

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thank you for all your info Jarrod re the different airlines.

I see that you fly with Jetstar and obviously have had good experiences with it. I heard that Jetstar has a tendency to cancel fllights unexpectedly. Is this true?

I can check on the website for their prices.

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I realize that this is a Virgin thread, but there have been several comments here regarding fares for both Virgin and Qantas and mention of sales by both. I'm looking at fares in and out of Uluru on Qantas as this seems to be the only available carrier. I have been seeing $360 from Cairns to Uluru and $240 Uluru to Sydney. Does anyone know - is this as good as it gets? I'm worried about waiting too long and missing out on even these fares. I also suspect since Qantas has a monopoly position on these routes that they may never go on sale.:(

 

Unfortunately your correct. Qantas is the only carrier that flies to Alice Springs and Uluru. I'd try and grab the fare while I could, as these flights are limited, and quite popular.

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We fly both Virgin and Qantas. Haven't tried Jetstar as getting to Avalon from regional areas is difficult. We flew Virgin return Melbourne to Perth a couple of weeks ago. Advice eat before you board - the meal was terrible. You can take food on board so we buy water and take with us. And really the flight isn't so long that you need a meal.4 hours takes you from Melbourne or Sydney to any other major city. The snacks are OK that they sell.

We fly Qantas if the fare is close to Virgins. Virgin has a mid week mini fare on Tuesdays and Wednesdays which can be considerably cheaper. The Virgin Promo fare is for when they have a special promotion (i.e. cheaper) fares on offer.

The cheap fares are very rarely during our school holidys. We have to travel in school holidays and are looking forward to retirement when we can take advantage of cheap fares like are on offer now.

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FWIW, I've done one SYD-MEL return trip on Virgin and it was absolutely fine. It was early in their online check-in system, so as I was about the only person to have used it and certainly the first person to check in for both flights, I was allocated very good seats by the computer. It was irritating to have to pay for a drink - having to dig out money gives bad vibes well beyond the actual cost or value of what's being sold/bought - but that's probably the only real complaint that I have.

 

I get perks when flying with Qantas, so Virgin would have to be significantly cheaper to make it worth my while flying with them. But I would happily do it again whenever it makes financial sense.

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hi all,

am now watching the Happy Hour each night (for us) at 7 PM PDT

noticed the 'good' fare for MEL-Cairns was the very last flight of the night which meant getting to Cairns a bit after midnight. Not a good time to arrive in my opinion.

Virgin only has 3 flights daily from Cairns to Sydney, so I wonder if they would ever put that route on sale.

Comments to help me out?

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hi all,

am now watching the Happy Hour each night (for us) at 7 PM PDT

 

Hi,

PDT - is that applicable to Sydney - I'm assuming it is but hoping it's not! If that's the case, that's 5 am here in Eastern United States. and I don't think I'll be getting up too many mornings to check it out. Maybe once in a while if I have a sleepless night! Is it literally for one hour? Thanks.:(

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PDT - is that applicable to Sydney - I'm assuming it is but hoping it's not! If that's the case, that's 5 am here in Eastern United States. and I don't think I'll be getting up too many mornings to check it out. Maybe once in a while if I have a sleepless night! Is it literally for one hour?
No, PDT is applicable to the west coast of the US! Sydney is in a different time zone.

 

As you will see from the Virgin Blue website, the happy hour is for one hour every day - currently between 1200 and 1300 AEST (which equates to 0200 and 0300 UTC, from which you can work out the local time for you).

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