Australia flights £499 & New Zealand £519

MSE_Jenny

What's the deal?

Australian airline Qantas is running a seat sale from London, with return flights to Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane and Auckland starting at a super-low £499, including most taxes & charges (the next cheapest is c. £600). There’re also flights to Christchurch and Auckland (in New Zealand) for £519.

The deals on flights departing from London Heathrow between now and 23 June 2009. There is still good availability at the moment, but the sale ends this 2 June, so you'll have to be quick.

How to find 'em

The flights are available direct through Qantas, but for a more advanced search you can use screenscraper Kayak*. Enter your trip details and it’ll zip them to scores of normal airlines, including Qantas, to find the cheapest.

If you don’t mind when you fly, there’s a quick way to get an idea which dates are available. On the Kayak homepage, enter London to Sydney (or the whichever destination you're looking for).

A box of ‘best fares’ should then appear on the right hand side. If you flick through the months, it should be clear which dates have £499 flights. Just search for a flight leaving on that date, and hopefully the cheap fare will still be available.

Remember for safety if booking, pay on a credit card to get extra protection, see the Section 75 guide for full info.

Don't assume it’s automatically cheapest though
Always compare it to the results from the Cheap & Free Flights guide

This deal was originally spotted by MoneySaver Jeff121, and this post was inserted to give everyone the full lowdown. Thanks for the fantastic find!

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* Using these links helps the site stay ad-free and free to use, as they’re ‘affiliated links’ which invisibly take you via price comparison services like Moneysupermarket or affiliate sites, this then means if you end up getting a product this site gets revenue

You shouldn’t notice any difference, the links don’t impact the product at all and the editorial line (the things we write) is NEVER impacted by the revenue. If it isn’t possible to get an affiliate link for the best product, its still listed in the same way. The following link Kayak is an identical unaffiliated link provided for the sake of transparency. Click on the following link for more details on how this site's financed.

Jeff121

Hi
Just received an offer from Qantas. Some cheap flights for those who can travel within the next few weeks, also good package deals.
http://www.qantas.com.au/regions/dyn/eu/gb/specials/may5DaySale?alt_cam=uk:qf:edm:22may09:int:economypromo:html

"Use the Walkabout fare to travel to one of 5 Australian, 4 New Zealand or 2 Far East destinations. Experience Australia from £499, New Zealand from £519, or Bangkok and Singapore from £399.
Travel for departure between 22 May to 23 June 2009.
Sale ends 2 June 2009!
Prices are correct as at 22 May 2009"

richardw

Yes, great prices.

BUT worth checking the likely climate, weather and daylight times for your destination before booking. It is Autumn/Winter down there at the moment.

marble

If you fancy a trip to Sydney later in the year, then Etihad (UAE's airline) will take you there and back for £494 between 01/09 and 30/11. The offer's only on until the 28th May, so it'll require some quick booking!

If you miss out, I'm sure there'll be another Australia deal soon ... flights were about £420 back in March (and New Zealand under £400) and there seem to be constant bargains.

Al

lilsarahlou

:rolleyes:I was wondering if any of you guys out there could help me, my family are all planning on going to Sydney for Christmas this year, including New Year.

However I know you moneysavers are really good at knowing your bargains, so does anyone know when would be the best time to book? We don't need accommodation as staying with family, so its just flights. I really dont wanna pay tooo much, after all it isn't exactly at the best time of year what with it being Oz summer.


Thanks in advance if any of you guys can help:o

becca0417

Keep an eye on the flights EVERY DAY. Last weekend, our flights went up by £300 in one day so worth checking every day and booking when you do spot a good deal.

richardw

lilsarahlou wrote: »

I really dont wanna pay tooo much, after all it isn't exactly at the best time of year what with it being Oz summer.

BUT it is the best time of year!
Watching the start of the Sydney-Hobart Yacht race on Boxing day in shorts and a T shirt was great and we went to the beach later. Beats Turkey Sarnies and watching the rain in the UK.

Demand is high for flights to Aus at Christmas and New year.
The only way to make it slightly cheaper is to fly on the slightly lower demand days which are 24/25th December outbound or 31st December inbound.

For convenience check www.emirates.com/uk for flights GLAsgow-Dubai-Sydney

laurajane1986

hi I have just been in touch with Etihad and there was no sale? the cheapest return flight I could find was 820? did you mean you could get flight for 494 exclu tax? I am trying to plan a year out to oz and want to leave in oct - do you think it is worth my while hanging on in the hope quantas have another sale for this time of year?

daleuk_3

both myself and my parter are look to go to Aus next year March/April/May for 4 weeks... from what iv seen were likely to get the best deal much closer to the time of departure? in a sale... not booking way ahead...?

richardw

laurajane1986 wrote: »

quantas

It is https://www.QANTAS.com

budeman

daleuk wrote: »

both myself and my parter are look to go to Aus next year March/April/May for 4 weeks... from what iv seen were likely to get the best deal much closer to the time of departure? in a sale... not booking way ahead...?

Same here - my wife and I are planning a 3-4 week trip in Jan - My wife wants to book asap but I have been reading about all the sales and how airlines are trying to lure people over there so I'm inclined to hang on and see if we can get a bargain - however if we dont get a deal it will be a very quiet flight out there!

Leaving on 28th Dec seems to be cheaper but not sure if I can make at the mo.

Any tips/advice?