ScarletKnight

Hi,

We are planning an Australian adventure in September. To get an idea of the cost of flights, I checked the cost of a sample itinerary on Qantas. My multi-city query included the international flights (arriving Sydney, departing Melbourne) from Washington DC and three long internal flights (Sydney - Cairns - Uluru-Melbourne). The total cost was about 2600 USD which I thought is a fantastic price given the scope of the journey.

The Qantas website said, "sale" and gave said "expires in 3 days". Yet, I didn't see a sale advertised.

Did I just luck-out? Is this a legitimate sale that will go away with much higher prices 4 days for now? Or will it always say "sale" with a short expiry to encourage buying now? I would rather wait as we just got started planning the trip and haven't finalized our destinations and durations. But, we can be motivated by saving a thousand+ dollars.

Another question - I never use travel agents to book flights, car rentals, hotels and instead book through the providers. Given the scope of this journey (3+ weeks, multiple locations, multi-city flights, internal tours), should I start now both in terms of price and quality of recommendations?

Mwenenzi

Where did you see the "sale"? Sales come and go. More of a marketing gimmick
The screen you see from USA may be different to what I see have.

Doing all flights on a single multi city screen may not the best outcome. Generally no advantage is booking in 1 PNR.
But USD$2600 for IAD-xxx-SYD-CNS-AYQ-MEL-xxx-IAD an OK price. A lot of price fluctuations USA<--->AU.

Those long - expensive AU domestic flights can be good value for awards.
A map from the Great Circle Mapper - Great Circle Mapper

As well as QF Qantas (Oneworld - AS AA ff partner), also have AU domestic airlines VA Virgin Australia (UA, AC & QR ff partner), JQ Jetstar, REX and the newbie Bonza (who have yet to start operations)

BD1959

Always used to be that - if booked on the one PNR - the International baggage allowance, which could be quite generous compared with a domestic allowance, also applied for the domestic flights. Is this no longer the case?

Regards,

BD

Dave Noble

If the domestic legs are added to the international booking, then the international allowance will apply throughout - whether this is a benefit or drawback depends on the differemt allowances

The big saving on having end-on-end ticketing for the domestic legs over separate bookings is the 9% saving due to no GST

There is also the benefit if travelling soon before/after the international flight in protection should there be any disruption to a service

minz56

My rule of thumb is only to book 'Sale' fares if I am 100% certain of my travel plans. Otherwise if you need to make any changes then you are likely to be up for hefty change fees. Any change prior to departure is likely to result in the itinerary being repriced to a fare valid on the day of the change which could be much higher. And then you pay the change fee on top of the fare differential. Could be very expensive. 'Sale' fares come and go with QF - if your itinerary is still not 100% certain I would wait.

ScarletKnight

Thanks for your thoughts and analysis.

ScarletKnight

I am very far from being 100% certain. We just started planning the trip. We are 75% certain of the destinations but say 25% certain of the durations. We would only "lock-in" now if there was huge savings versus waiting. Thank you for your comment.

imnomad

Not seeing any sale... Might be too late... ??

Mwenenzi

Just wait. Sales come and go. Tend to be seats for months away. Not often close in.
From your profile not you are in USA. Are several airlines fly USA<--->AU.
The sales in the USA market may be different to sales in Oz.

Edit
If OK to get spam email from QF you can sign up to
AU https://www.qantas.com/au/en/travel-...scription.html
US https://www.qantas.com/us/en/travel-...scription.html
And
AU https://www.qantas.com/au/en/flight-...omy/all/lowest
US https://www.qantas.com/us/en/flight-...omy/all/lowest