Cheaper options than qantas.com and virginblue.com

[simongr]

OK I need to book two flights for 3+1 people (the one is a small child - not an infant):

BNE-SYD 21 Dec
SYD-BNE 3 Jan

As some people will be aware I dont book these flights so am not sure of the cheapest way to do this. I went to QF and DJ (JQ is not of interest nor is TT) websites and was offered $120/$140 (each way - the higher being the upgradeable fare I think) on QF with plenty of availability and $149 on DJ with only availability on the return flight.

Am I missing a trick - is this the cheapest way to book the fares without waiting for sale fares?

Cheers

Simon

[serfty]

It's peak holiday season! There are unlikely to be ANY sales for travel on those dates.

More than that; often the cheaper fares disappear quite early (O class for QF).

[simongr]

I was thinking that - but do others like flightcentre have flights discounted.

Amusingly when I saw the QF price was cheaper than the DJ and both included the +++ I thought the prices were not bad

[AlphaVictor]

qantas.com and virginblue.com.au are the cheapest for domestic airfares in Australia - full stop. A travel agent such as Fright Centre should be able to get the same fares for you with a small service fee.
Forget about online travel agents such as Webjet who charge a whopping $20 - $30 fee for any domestic booking. (what the?)

About a year ago NRMA Travel was discounting online airfares with Virgin Blue for Members by 3% with no credit card fees or booking fees, but I rang recently to book again and was told that the deal was pulled by Virgin B (I wonder why lol!)

Domestic - go direct, forget the rest
International, be rational - use an agent

[simongr]

Thanks again - I will get the go ahead from the family and book the QF flights I think - might get the more expensive flights and see if I can upgrade the parents.

Now to enroll them for QFF and grab the 8K points from this trip through family transfers

[straitman]

Thanks again - I will get the go ahead from the family and book the QF flights I think - might get the more expensive flights and see if I can upgrade the parents.

Now to enroll them for QFF and grab the 8K points from this trip through family transfers

Just a reminder that you can only transfer once per year from each person.

[serfty]

Last year I had to purchase travel MEL/BNE for 4 people up on 23DEC back on 26DEC.

I knew this in January and kept an eye on things; waiting until O availability stated to reduce significantly before purchasing.

At no stage did a sale happen for the dates I needed (although the Price did drop from $165 to $160 pp) sometime early in the year.

[serfty]

Just a reminder that you can only transfer once per year from each person.

... and a minimum of 5K per time.

You transfer:

• 5k from your account to ac1,
• then transfer 7k from ac1 to ac2,
• then 9k from ac3 to ac3,
• then 11k from ac3 to ac4,
• then 13k from ac4 back to your account.

[simongr]

Last year I had to purchase travel MEL/BNE for 4 people up on 23DEC back on 26DEC.

I knew this in January and kept an eye on things; waiting until O availability stated to reduce significantly before purchasing.

At no stage did a sale happen for the dates I needed (although the Price did drop from $165 to $160 pp) sometime early in the year.

Thanks for this - looks like it is a "this weekend" thing to do to lock in dates etc.

Good points re the transfer - now is it worth the hassle for 8K points ... I think we know the answere to that

And it is red-e-deals that cant be upgraded yeah?

[straitman]

... and a minimum of 5K per time.

You transfer:

• 5k from your account to ac1,
• then transfer 7k from ac1 to ac2,
• then 9k from ac3 to ac3,
• then 11k from ac3 to ac4,
• then 13k from ac4 back to your account.

serfty,

I had not thought of that option and so simple really.