DJ to sell Australia's lowest ever fares

[stuartfaz]

From DJ's website...

LOWEST EVER 1 CENT* FARES FOR OZ TRAVELLERS 1ST FLIGHT TO PORT MACQUARIE 1 GREAT REASON FOR 1 CENT FARES!!!

Monday 4 February 2008: Port Macquarie, Australia: Australian travellers are poised to witness the lowest fare ever offered in the Australian market with Virgin Blue set to launch a 1 cent sale to celebrate its brand new flights to Port Macquarie on the New South Wales, Mid North Coast. The first flight is scheduled to depart Sydney as DJ 1185 at 11.35am and arrive in Port Macquarie at 12.30pm.


The new service is part of the airline’s regional growth strategy and continues to deliver on the commitment Virgin Blue made back in 2000 when the airline first launched, to bring competition and affordability to the heart of Australia’s regional communities, not just capital cities.


To celebrate the occasion in true Virgin Blue style, the airline will offer 1,000 1 cent one-way fares for flights between Port Macquarie and Sydney, INCLUSIVE of taxes and surcharges ($41.73). The special 1000 1 cent Internet only “Fast and Furious” fares will go on sale at 8.00pm tomorrow Tuesday 5th February for four hours until midnight Tuesday 5th February or until sold out. The travel period is from 6 February 2008 and 30 June 2008.


Virgin Blue Chief Executive, Brett Godfrey said, “At 8.00pm tomorrow evening, Virgin Blue will flick the switch and offer what is the cheapest fare ever to be seen in the domestic aviation market.”


The launch of Virgin Blue flights also represents an end to the days of turbo-prop only services with the historic flight marking the first time the city of Port Macquarie will have jet aircraft flights. The commencement of these flights represents a range of new opportunities for the local region.


Virgin Blue Chief Executive, Brett Godfrey said, “These new services for Port Macquarie kick off Virgin Blue’s comprehensive regional growth plan for 2008 and we are excited that Port Macquarie is the first new destination on our expanding route map. You probably won’t get a better deal than a 1 cent flight and while it’s clearly a very special launch fare, it’s an indication that Virgin Blue is serious about generating interest and excitement for people travelling to and from regional destinations like Port Macquarie”.


He continued, “The introduction of Virgin Blue services to other regional cities including Coffs Harbour and Ballina, has been a major driver in increased tourism and business and we are hopeful the same benefits will be experienced by the Hastings region.”


Virgin Blue will operate brand new Brazilian manufactured executive style EMBRAER E-Jets on the route which carries up to 78 passengers in the E-170 and 104 in the slightly larger E-190. The jets have a flying time between Sydney and Port Macquarie of just 40 minutes.


The new service is aimed at both leisure and business travellers and offers additional perks and services for the discerning traveller including Virgin Blue’s Sydney “The Lounge” facility, Velocity Frequent Flyer program and shortly, the new “Premium Economy” in-flight option.


Port Macquarie-Hastings Council has upgraded the airport to facilitate Virgin Blue services, including the introduction of a security screening facility. The airport extensions are also underway which will allow Virgin Blue to operate jet aircraft flights on a long term basis.


Brett Godfrey added, “Competition is a great thing for consumers and we are committed to bringing long term low fares, good old fashioned service and robust competition to this market and we hope to garner strong community support to ensure longevity for Virgin Blue flights”.


On board today’s launch flight will be key Virgin Blue executives, Port Macquarie-Hastings Mayor, Councillor Rob Drew, a number of Port Macquarie tourism and business representatives, special surprise celebrity guest, Globetrotting Getaway presenter, Catriona Rowntree, a group of media travel writers, as well as tourists keen to take advantage of the new services to the Mid North Coast region.


Virgin Blue will operate daily flights between Sydney and Port Macquarie and will closely monitor demand for the services.


Connections will be available from Port Macquarie via Sydney to Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Canberra, Gold Coast, Hobart and Melbourne.


The launch flight will feature Virgin Blue’s traditional in-flight celebrations including free champagne, special limited edition launch flight t-shirt giveaway as well as an in-flight auction and fundraising efforts with all proceeds donated to the Hastings Cancer Trust and Port Macquarie Surf Club.



...



Well there you go. 1 cent.

[futaris]

Virgin Blue > News and Press Releases

[straitman]

Lets see how the DJ booking engine handles this.

It could be really bad and still do a better job than the JQ booking engine.

[serfty]

I've noticed that JQ have updated their web pages & booking interface (from last week).

(As well as increasing the domestic CC booking fee from $2 to $

Don't know about the underlying booking engine however; the URL is still showing 'skylights'.

[edison]

Look at the fine print here:

- A credit card surcharge of an additional $3 per person per one way flight is applicable. Credit card surcharge will not apply to 1000 1 cent Fast and Furious fare.

At least they fixed this problem of CC surcharge being 30000% of the actual flight ...... Now maybe they should just scrap the cc surcharge altogether and build into the actual fare for all flights.

[straitman]

Look at the fine print here:

- A credit card surcharge of an additional $3 per person per one way flight is applicable. Credit card surcharge will not apply to 1000 1 cent Fast and Furious fare.

At least they fixed this problem of CC surcharge being 30000% of the actual flight ...... Now maybe they should just scrap the cc surcharge altogether and build into the actual fare for all flights.

Absolutely

[kpc]

Look at the fine print here:

- A credit card surcharge of an additional $3 per person per one way flight is applicable. Credit card surcharge will not apply to 1000 1 cent Fast and Furious fare.

At least they fixed this problem of CC surcharge being 30000% of the actual flight ...... Now maybe they should just scrap the cc surcharge altogether and build into the actual fare for all flights.

I have asked crazydave98 about this here:http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/comm...tml#post158982
...and am patiently waiting a response

These 1c fares are basically a free advertsiment for DJ, and nothing more...it will be difficult to book them because I predict that their website will crash like J*s

[JohnK]

Wonderful! Another lottery.

With 1,000 tickets on sale I wonder if anyone will have time to book a return flight? Come to think of it if the website does not crash due to demand you would expect the sale to be over in less than 5 minutes. Just another grab at cheap publicity, ala JQ....

[BiziBB]

Hi, I just read the DJ page and wonder what dates are available.

At least the available dates are more than a week.

...the travel period is from 6 February 2008 and 30 June 2008.

What days are the flights, though?

Will be great for those of us with retired family up there - at least saving us a few hours' drive.

[AlphaVictor]

I have to agree, this is nothing more than a publicity stunt not a bona-fide airfare sale. Airlines, hotels and travel agents have perfected this as an art form.

The un-official term is a "Triple L" used within the industry (these days I've added an extra L)

1. Launch
2. Limit
3. Laugh n Lament

1. Launch an airfare. Tell everyone about it, make sure you tell your database of loyal customers but also make sure that every Tom, **** and Harriet hears it on the Ch 7 news. The sillier the fare the better (Bonus points for getting on ACA or TT)

2. Limit the number of seats to a very low number and between the nearest of destinations. Start the sale at a strange time so it won't effect your profitable business period. Only allow a very short period of time for booking thereby ensuring that the website fails to cope with both loyal customers (who usually receive the launch email at least 30 mins into the sale) and those people who choose to watch ACA or TT. Don't tell potential bookers the exact dates the fares are available until they start searching each day.

3. Laugh - when media / passengers and unsuccesful punters ultimately
complain about missing out. Laugh it off - "we did the best we could", "look how popular our sale was". At this point parade one or two happy families who lucked in the lottery and received a seat

(Lament is where these is a lip service apology that the airline could'nt sell more or that the site when down just when you were paying. Promise to fix it next time but do nothing.)

It is a tried and true formula (trust me, I've done it before ;-)). Maximising exposure and publicity that encourages email database registrations (as so not to miss out next time). Any publicity is good publicity. A catastrophic website failure is a win situation for the airline, it gives them at least 2 more days of free publicity.

Good luck to those trying for seats at 1 cent tomorrow, the deck, however, is stacked against you. It's more of a lottery than a sale, but we all know that already don't we?

The "Free" seat sale is next off the rank - (plus taxes) - I'd say in less than a month or two.