INTER-AUSSIE TRAVEL...HELP
 

Well turning to the experts with a question...

I have priced out a trip on Qantas and Virgin Blue for some inter Aussie Travel in October...and pricing it as 2 round trips whether on the same or different carriers or circle trips comes out very expensive..over $600 USD...so it does appear that the Boomerang pass on Qantas is the way to go since I can do the travel for $400 USD....however

Does anyone know is there a cheaper option for which I am not exploring? Any consolidators I should contact? Any good business class rates?

My route is SYD-AYQ-CNS-SYD Thanks everyone, this is posted in Qantas as well and here since no Virgin Blue section.

Do you have any miles with AA or any Qantas partners? You might be able to do open jaw award travel on Qantas SYD-AYQ-CNS, and then buy a one way ticket on Virgin Blue CNS-SYD.

I priced SYD-AYQ-SYD ($A563 on Qantas) and SYD-CNS-SYD ($A279 on Virgin Blue) using Oct 4-7 travel dates just to get some fares, and that works out to about $US464, so this comes out pretty close to what you have with the airpass. I think the problem you're running into is that there is not any competition to Ayers Rock, so no reason to hold the fares down there.

This may be a stupid question- but did you check the Qantas website? We're travelling early next year and found some inner-aussie air fares that were incredible (good until the end of March)- approximately half of what we we were quoted as Y, and still less expensive than the boomerang.
Good luck!

I think it's pretty much been summed up here.

Ayers Rock is a tourist destination; there is no reason to go there unless you're a tourist. Airline (QF) logic: cashed up US/EU/JP tourists will pay anything, therefore we won't offer any cheap fares.

My advice: skip the rock. But then again, I'm a jaded Australian who thinks Steve Irwin should turned into stylish-yet-affordable leather handbags.