Boomerang Pass-Sydney to Cairns
 

Do any of you smart and thrifty people have any views on the most economical way to fly round-trip for two between Sydney and Cairns? I live in the USA and hear that Qantas has a Boomerang Pass available for non-Australian residents which uses at least 2 "coupons". Ansett may have a similar program. Are these passes cheaper than just booking a direct flight? I believe they may be more flexible/cancellable as well. Thanks for any input.

My husband and I are going to Australia soon and we booked Aussie passes with Qantas. This is THE way to go for flexibility. If you want to change the dates or times when you get there, you can do it for free. If you want to change the route, it only costs $40 US. The big things -- they can only be purchased from outside of Australia, and you must buy a set number of passes. (I forget the minimum.) <BR> The best though, is the price! Cairns to Sydney is about $120.00. <BR> Good Luck.

Quantas and Ansett both have passes for travel around Australia and New Zealand - Quantas has the boomerang pass and Ansett has the G'Day pass. There is information on their websites. <BR> <BR>Quantas also offers a better deal if you are flying them or a OneWorld partner to Australia. This pass is called the Visit Australia (also called the Oneworld pass). It has the same flexibility and rules as the Boomerang pass, but the fares per segment were a little cheaper. <BR> <BR>For example, the single zone fare on the Boomerang Pass is $160; on the Visit Australia it is $125. My guess is that Air New Zealand/Ansett has a similar pass for passengers flying them to Australia or arriving on a Star Alliance partner. <BR> <BR>A last note - check Quantas' website. They run red e-deals - so far, I have not seen one RT to Cairns yet, but I was able to book my Melbourne to Sydney flight via an Internet special and do better that the $125 segment price on the pass.

Thanks for the information, David.

I spoke to Quantas last night about the Boomerang pass, it turns out it is cheaper to buy a round trip ticket between Sydney-Cairns ($249 US currently) instead of the Boomerang pass which works out to $320 US. My guess is boomerang is cheaper if you want to fly one way between places. <BR> <BR>-lakshmi

When you get to Australia you will find that you can get some really good deals on the airlines. Qantas have Red e deals and then there is Virgin Blue who have fares like $66Au from Brisbane to Sydney and similar from Sydney to Melbourne so check them out before buying a pass. Just one thing though VB don't go to Cairns as yet - only Townsville. Virgin Blue has a website. <BR>

Hi <BR> <BR>I agree with most of the advice so far. I was researching flights for my inlaws who are coming to visit us in Sydney this year. They want to fly form here to queensland. I found that the air passes, although a great idea if you are flying to out of the way places and not major airports, they are much more expensive than regular flights to busy airporst such as sydney, brisbane, cairns, melbourne etc. For example if you wanted to fly from Sydney to Hervey Bay for Fraser Island, the fare would be A$378 compared with an airpass coupon of about A$250. But if oyu wanted to fly from Sydney to Brsiabane, teh Gold Coast or any where on Virgin Blue's routes, you are much better off buying direct via their websites (fares from A$77 compared with A$250 airpass coupon price). Check out virgin blue's site at www.virginblue.com.au and also Qantas but look for their link to the Red E-deals which are bookable only via the website. I found Ansett a waste of time and overpriced, plus they went into receivership today!!!!