We're moving to Canberra next year and I've started to check out plane tickets. Qantas has these package deals with 3 extra flights added on for within Australia (priced by region). Does anyone know if this is a great deal? Are there other cheap tickets easily available? - we'd prefer to wait and buy them once we're there, but we don't want to get stuck paying alot more.

Thanks for your advice. Tom

OK Tom, good question but just give us a little bit of a clue........ how much are those tickets you are talking about?

Tom, your previous post asking exactly the same question ran into the same problem that Liz raises. Without knowing the price for the add-on fares it's not possible to say how good a deal they are by comparison with discounted fares bought locally.

Copy and paste:
http://www.qantas.com.au/regions/dyn...ls/webDeals217

Yes, it's a good deal.

Join the Qantas FF program (or join American's) for additional goodness from this deal.

Sorry - I'd tried to write an earlier message, thought it had not gotten posted, and that's why I posted the same question again.

We'll be flying to Australia in late December or early January -- from looking in detail at their site, that seems to be the period when Qantas doesn't offer these deals.

Anyway, how do you locate cheap airfare from within Australia? Is it cheaper to buy over the web; are their specific companies that offer cheaper flights, etc.? Thanks. Tom

You may want to also check with Virgin Blue. They are trying to compete with Qantas to take away their strangle hold on internal Australia flights. Give them a try. I am not sure how prices are, but given they are trying to pull people away from Qantas, you may find a better deal.

Hi Tom,
December/January is holiday season here, summer and school, so bookings can be heavy. On the other hand, accommodation in CBDs can be cheaper as lots of the business travellers are on holidays, too. Basically, Australia goes on holidays from mid-late Dec to beginning of February.

Yes, it's cheaper to buy on the net than by 'phone. Usually about $10. Some specials are "net only".

Subscribe to Qantas, & Virgin e-mail newsletters and you'll receive advance notice of specials before they are released to the public. (I think Jetstar is included in the QF one as it's a subsidiary).

As Gardyloo says, join the Qantas FF (and Virgin)programme (or do you already belong to one in which QF is a partner?). I usually only use FFs for long haul internal flights (and o/s) as I think the net specials are better value for shorter trips.
For airfares, try:
www.virginblue.com.au; www.jetstar.com.au; www.lastminute.com.au and www.travel.com.au (they sometimes have pretty good packages of accomm + airfares).
QF doesn't fly to some destinations; eg.Qld Sunshine Coast - uses Jetstar. Virgin has pretty good coverage.

Virgin has a "sale" hour each day. Either Noon - 1pm or 1 - 2pm (sorry, can't remember which).

Just a thought - does the Uni you're joining have a relationship with a Travel Agent? If so, that might get you some discounts. Also, if you will mostly require accommodation when you're travelling internally, it is sometimes cheaper to take a package than separately. But, always check wotif.com for accommodation,too.

I was looking at internal flights, and think Virgin Blue, Quantas, and Jetstar are the major carriers. Macair goes to some places these other carriers don't go, like Lizard Island. FYI, I did a search on the quantas site, and a search on the yahoo.com.au travel site, for the same quantas flight, for some reason it priced out cheaper on yahoo travel australia. Good luck.

I was interested to see that Qantas' website handles the problem of so many people spelling it "Quantas" - type in www.quantas.com.au and up it comes.

(For the record, it's an acronym based on its original 1920 name, Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services. Qantas is in fact the second most venerable airline in the world.)

Thanks for all the great advice -- I've written down all the websites you've mentionned and am now on the Virgin Blue mailing list. This will be a great help after we arrive in Australia, and start having time to travel around.

PS - anyone know of a great (not too cheap, not too expensive) hotel/resort near Jervis bay, for a couple & 1 10-yr old daughter? Thanks!

Tom

Hi Bokhara -

Unfortunately, my university travel agent doesn't have good deals on trips over the Pacific to Asia. I can get great deals on Air France, but that doesn't help here... So I'm checking out all options.

The easiest would be to fly from Montreal to Los Angeles and then on Qantas to Sydney - Canberra. Alternatives would be on Air Canada to Vancouver - Honolulu - Sydney - Canberra; or Montreal - Los Angeles - Auckland - Sydney - Canberra. Or longer still (but with Air France frequent flier points) on South Korean Airlines via Seoul. As my daughter hates flying, we'll probably opt for the fastest, via Qantas. Tom