Travel within OZ
 

We are leaving for Sydney in 3 weeks and will be spending 5 weeks travelling on our own. Would it be better to arrange our flights within the country while we are still in the US or would it be better to do it when we get there. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou.

Lynda: <BR>My wife and I booked LAX to Melbourne this past October. Once in Mel we booked to Tasmania, back to Mel and then to Sydney. We already had reservations from Sydney to Queenstown(booked in the US). Once in Queenstown we booked to Christchurch then to Auckland. We were already booked AKL to LAX(also booked in the US). We too traveled on our own and had no plans other than to tour at our leisure. We had absolutely no problem booking flights once in Australia and New Zealand. Any major credit card will do. They are most accommodating. Have a wonderful trip. <BR>John

Hi Linda: <BR>We have just returned from 5 weeks in Australia. We booked all our domestic flights while in Australia even though we were told it would be cheaper if we booked prior to leaving home (Canada). It was no problem at all and in fact was considerable cheaper than the prices quoted from home! <BR>Good Luck, you will love Australia!

Thanks for the info. Did you find that there were enuf flights to choose from and where did you make the reservations when you were there?

Lynda, <BR> <BR>The main two domestic airlines in Oz are Ansett and Qantas. <BR>Their websites for timetables are <BR>www.qantas.com.au <BR>www.ansett.com.au <BR>They have some good specials at the moment, but you need to book well in advance or you pay top dollar.

Two new cut-price airlines have just started flying on the east coast of Australia - Virgin Blue and Impulse. They are both advertising cheaper fares than Qantas and Ansett. I think both have websites for enquiries and bookings.

We were in Australia last September and flew to Gladstone and Brisbane from Sydney. We booked and purchased our Qantas tickets while still here in the US. They have a pass that gives you a cheaper fare if you have several segments to your trip. I don't know if I could have gotten cheaper tickets in Australia but I certainly did not want to spend my time making bookings while I was there. I believe that Ansett and Qantas have more daily flights (which gives you more flexibility) than Virgin Blue though Virgin Blue did seem cheaper. By the way, make sure you are within the luggage weight limits. The domestic planes are much smaller.

Lynda: <BR>Regarding where to make reservations once in Australia; there are loads of major air line ticket offices in the major city CBD's(Central Business District). Ansett, Qantas, Air New Zealand. Their all over the place. You will not have any trouble finding a ticket office. <BR>John

try www.impulse.com,