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Hi Everyone - Hubby and I are SO DESPERATE to visit Australia...Port Douglas is our dream destination! We are saving for a vacation - of course the exchange rate makes the destination very favorable, but our major barrier at this point is airfare. Can anyone offer any suggestions about how to find the most reasonable fares? Thanks, Jackie

I am assuming that you are in Cajun country and would be coming from that part of the USA. Try this site http://www.webjet.com.au/index2.asp which should give you a wide variety of ideas. Also Lan Chile flies out of Miami and may be able to give you a special to Australia seeing that they have just route combined with Qantas recently - worth a try. You could get a stopover in Santiago one way and Auckland the other. Of course you have Expedia in the USA as well as Priceline so check those two sites out as well. Best of luck.

PS I just looked at the Webjet site and came up with another idea. If you are on the south eastern side of the USA this may be of interest as I know that your internal airfares are the expensive ones. Remember that these fares are in Australian $ which are about 1/2 $US. The first one looks great however I don't know who they are associated with and don't know if their destinations are as flexible. CLASS FROM AIRLINE/S DESCRIPTION Round World ECONOMY $1817.00* LUFTHANSA Includes 3 day 'London Transport Voucher'. Valid for travel 30 September to 14 November 2002. Round World ECONOMY $2439.00* QANTAS/ BRITISH AIRWAYS Valid for travel 30 September to 14 November 2002. Round World ECONOMY $2496.00* MULTIPLE CARRIERS Valid for travel 20 August to 6 December Round World ECONOMY $2731.00* MULTIPLE CARRIERS Valid for travel till 31 March 2003 Round World BUSINESS $5486.00* MALAYSIAN Valid for travel to 31 March 2003. Round World BUSINESS $7029.00* LUFTHANSA Valid for travel till 31 March 2003 Round World BUSINESS $7956.00* MULTIPLE CARRIERS Valid for travel till 31 March 2003 Round World BUSINESS $8866.00* QANTAS/ BRITISH AIRWAYS Valid for travel to 31 March 2003. I did an ATW trip in May/June with Qantas and the airlines I travelled on were - American Airlines/ British Airways/Qantas/ Lan Chile/ FinAir/ - your choices would also include Aerlingus/ Iberian/ Cathay Pacific and a number of Pacific others that are not listed in the major listings and which may be of interest. That Qantas fare would cost you about $1,250 US and doesn't change due to seasons. Hope these ideas help.

Thanks! Your efforts are sincerely appreciated...now I've got something to "chew on". And you're right - we're from Cajun Country in south Louisiana!

Hi- I found it cheaper to buy a round trip to LA and another from LA to Sydney than to book from Atlanta where I live...do you subscribe to the various airlines emails? What about fare tracker services w/sites like expedia and travelocity?? I've heard of people getting deals on priceline.com but I've never tried that...good luck! You'll love Port Douglas and Australia as a whole! Debbie

Hi Deb, thanks for helping out here as we get asked this question so often on this forum and it is sometimes hard to get good deals when its not just from LA. At least being in Atlanta you are in the Hub for Delta Airlines. I once got a special from Aust - Hawaii and then a Delta special from Hawaii to Atlanta which worked out very well and a lot cheaper too. By the way I had a great time in Atlanta - stayed with friends in Peachtree street ( well who doesn't live in a street named Peachtree?)

Liz: Help - I must be doing something wrong!! I've tried to get the info from the site you suggested but it said the fares from starting in Australia and ending in Australia. Then I went to Lufthansa and their Round World price is >3 grand per person. What am I doing wrong? I know I can find my way to Peachtree in atlanta but I can't seem to find my way to Australia again.

Jackie....From the midwestern US to Aus, I got the best $$ deal, strange as it may seen, with a round trip Chicago-London on American, then a separate round trip London-Perth on British Air. I know Perth isn't your destination in Aus, but you might check into a similar scene to Sydney.

I just tried myself with the Web deals and the way to do them is a phone buy ( not any good for your in the USA) then I used the interactive customer assistance, which you could try but I managed to disconnect myself. I think I would be more inclined to contact an office of Qantas and ask them how to go about it actually and tell them that you have been trying to work it out on the Webjet site - they too have an email address for contact. Kathy - the cost of going around the way you went is OK if you go to Perth but adds a BIG lot on to get to Sydney from there. 2 airlines that always have good deals are Royal Brunei and Malaysian Airlines which may be worth a try - RB is always coming up with specials Good luck

This just came to my mailbox. Hope it helps even tho it's LA. Liz thanks again for so much help. I'm going to add those two airlines to my list cause we do so want to come back for a longer visit. Dear Qantas eTravel Club member, Thank you for joining the Qantas eTravel Club through one of our partners or through qantasusa.com. As an eTravel Club member, you will receive updates on Web Deals featured only on qantasusa.com. This week's $798 Web Deal is the first of its kind, and only Qantas eTravel Club members are being told about it! $798 Los Angeles to Sydney - Four Day Sale Qantas' current $1095 sale fare is discounted to $798 for specific dates only on qantasusa.com. Just purchase a Los Angeles to Sydney roundtrip between August 6-9, 2002. Travel must commence August 19-22 or September 9-12, 2002. Return on any date within one month's time. Fare available only from Los Angeles. Terms & Conditions listed below*. Does not include taxes of approx $97 and a handling fee of $15.

have you looked at united - they ahd some good fares a couple of months back. air new zealand is sometimes cheaper then quantas.

after posting above, I opened my email and there is a special web fare on air new zealand. so check out their site.