Buy airplane tickets before travel or once there?
 

Hi everyone,

I'm traveling to Australia and New Zealand in July with a friend of mine, and we aren't sure if we should buy airline tickets to go from Sydney to Cairns and Cairns to Christchurch before we leave the USA or once we get there. The prices on Qantas and Virgin Blue keep on changing, one minute they are $300, the next minute it's $150. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Virgin Blue (domestic Australian) fares ex Sydney to Cairns and some other popular destinations have been down to a ridiculous $48 one-way, but these specials sell fast and apply to nominated travel dates. My advice is to keep a regular watch on Virgin Blue's website, and also that of JetStar, a just-launched low-cost Qantas spinoff (www.jetstar.com.au). As soon as you see a good price for the period you want, strike.

Check if any of the airlines you are considering offer an Air Pass that cover the destinations you wish to fly. If so, the Pass for the legs you wish have to be purchased before departing the States and you should book the individual flights at the same time as Pass seats are often limited.

Also, if you are a member of any of these airline's Frequent Flyer pograms, and if obtaining a Pass works for you, be sure to inquire how many frequent flyer miles you accrue on these tickets. Often Pass tickets give less than 100% of the miles flown; even less than the minimum.

Lots of luck!

Neil is right (again!)

Airfares are very flexible at present, so watch all players, VirginBlue, Qantas, and starting today, Jetstar. A fare of $150 each way is not too bad - it's a fair distance. There may be some good specials with Jetstar, and VB will probably match them.

I would suggest you try Virgin Blue over Qantas, as VB were full I had to use Qantas and they just simply were not good compared with VB. They really must retrain their cabin crew in 'Customer Care'. Although you get 'food' of some description it is certainly not as good as what's on offer at VB and I would have sooner paid for something decent on VB than what was offered included with Qantas. To get good deals you have to book early, booking a week in advance even on Discounted unchangeable flights they were very high when compared with say Asia regional flights.