We will be in Australia for three weeks in February/March. I have not purchased any inter-country airfare because we're not exactly sure how long we will want to stay in each place. Will it be relatively easy to get last-minute seats between Sydney and Brisbane and Brisbane and Cairns? I'm thinking it would be very much like our Southwest Airlines flights here in California???

Sheryl<BR>It'll be relatively easy to get seats at the last minute, if cost is not a factor. You're not travelling in a peak period. It's much more expensive to buy fares at the last minute.<BR><BR>I would do a bit of homework, and try to establish some dates/times. Talk to your travel agent about a Boomerang Pass. And then check the airlines for prices. There are only two - www.qantas.com.au, and www.virginblue.com.au.<BR>Online prices are generally better, and be a bit flexible about the day and time you travel - it can make a huge difference.

Sheryl,<BR><BR>We booked the Boomerang pass but found better deals on the Qantas &amp; Virgin Blue web sites with thier internet deals. So we bought the rest of our airline tickets before we left the States. You can book straight on line. By booking early you have better flight time selection.<BR><BR>Since you sound like you are kinda winging it...you probably just want to wait and find a travel agent in OZ. A guy we meet over in OZ bought last minute flights in august through a travel agent and got great flight/hotel deals. <BR><BR>

I would try and purchase tickets before you leave the US. Every flight that we were on was completely FULL! There were a couple of flights that we were on such as the Sydney to Cairns flight and the flight to Ayers Rock that were sold out far in advance.<BR><BR>If you are only flying two times then the Boomerang Pass is not the best deal for you, just book on the website.

Sheryl,<BR>IMHO I should try very hard to book domestic flights before you leave US. In general you seem to get better deals through Travelocity/Expedia etc, but you have to have paper tickets sent to a US address (no E-tickets), I guess to prevent us locals having access to better fares (I know, I've tried). Sure there are good internet deals around but these seats are VERY limited. The full price fares are relatively expensive, even given the favourable exchange rate (for you). Have a good trip!

We tried to buy tickets to get a round trip to Ayers Rock while we were in Sydney and Cairns and we just could not find anything less than $388 per person while in Australia. We tried to buy Boomerang passes at the Quantas ticket desk before we left Honolulu and the manager (since it was almost closing time at the desk) told us to go to Australia and with the exchange rate in our favor, well, he said we would find better rates there. (Not sure if he was just too lazy to ticket the Boomerang passes.) Anyway, we went to Australia and spent about 6 hours working with Quantas and American Express to shop for tickets. Anyway, it turned out that we could have bought the Boomerang passes and if we did not use them, they would have been fully refundable. The only catch quoted to us by Quantas was that if we didn't use at least two per person then they would have refunded the remaining passes but upgraded the cost of the used tickets to the regular rate. My point: Buy them just in case you need them so that you don't get stuck paying the higher airfares at the last minute. Just give yourself options because the planes did seem to be pretty full there.

Hi Sheryl: We are going in Nov. and I just bought Boomerang Passes for our flight from Sydney to Cairns roundtrip. It was a bit more expensive, but since we are flying in from LAX and then going straight on to Cairns, I was concerned about what would happen if our international flight was late and we missed our flight...you are stuck with it!! Not changeable, not refundable! I feel it's worth the little extra to have total flexibility. Plus...here's the kicker...the cheapest flight from Cairns to Sydney on Nov. 24th is at 3:15pm and it only had 3 seats left on Jan. 16th and those are probably already gone. I say buy here and book your flights as far ahead as you can, but w/Boomerang Pass, you can change or cancel. Good luck and have a great trip.

top off the shouter