Flights within OZ
 

G'day mates!

My wife and I will be flying from Toronto to Sydney in December for a one month stay in Oz.

Should I be booking my flights within Australia (e.g. Sydney to Adelaide, etc) now from Canada or would it be less expensive to wait until we are in OZ?

Thanks in advance for any advice you may have.

CaptKangaroo (And I thought you were a gonner!) We are also travelling to Oz from T.O. in October and were advised to book our internal flights from here. Quantas has something called Boomerang passes that give you better fares but from what I understand they must be booked from outside the country. Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong. Happy planning!

I too will be in Australia this December and have researched getting a boomerang pass vs booking individual flights on the qantas website. What I've found is that many of the rates listed on qantas.com (for the flights that I am interested in)are significantly cheaper than what the qantas reservation agent is quoting me. (One of the flights was nearly AUD$100 less on the website than what the agent told me.) As a result, the pass would actually end up costing me more $$ than would booking individual flights. My suggestion is to maybe price out your flights on the qantas website and then compare those rates with the cost of buying the boomerang before making your decision. Just a thought.

While it is usually cheaper to book individual seats direct with either Qantas or Virgin Blue once you're here - you'll need to be very careful about this around Christmas. This is peak travel time - the schools break-up around the 15th December (varies from state to state) and from then on it is hard to get a discount fare and, depending on where you're flying to and from, even sometimes hard to get a seat.
STARFISH - for travel in October you may do better booking direct. The Boomerang Pass has been discussed on this forum before, and several people have felt that they were better off booking direct so see if you can find those previous posts.

The 2 airlines web sites are qantas.com.au & virginblue.com.au

Hi CaptK,

Qantas has mileage flights and for a set fare you're allowed 29000 miles and up to 6 stopovers.

I just booked my Aus/NZ flights this way by calling the Qantas 800# from here in Canada. I received my tickets today, less than 2 weeks since booking. It was easy. If your domestic flights are short, it may be better to book them separately. As suggested, try www.virginblue.com.au, a discount airline in Australia for pricing.

When are you flying to Oz? Flights are already getting limited, at least at the lower fares.

Jeez
With all you lot turning up, I'd better book my seats now!

Seriously, December / January is prime travelling time, and cheap seats will be at a premium. Look for them now on the 2 airlines, if you are sure enough of your itinerary! (how could you be so sure, so far out?)

The consensus is usually to check and see how much the flights are if booked direct, and then compare with the cost of the Boomerang pass. In normal times, seats booked direct are usually cheaper, but who knows at Christmas time. Consider the flexibility of the various tickets.

Have fun!

G'day mates!

Thanks for all the great advice. I'll check the websites and let you know what I come up with.

My itinerary is not locked in (as Margo Oz discerned) so I guess I'm looking for some flexibility once I get to Oz. Does the boomerang pass allow that flexibility?

Capt