Any tips on how to take advantage of the strong AUD when buying flights?

[haydensydney]

With the AUD doing very well of late, it got me thinking about how to cash in on cheap flights by using such favourable exchange rates.

I don't know if it's feasible, or worth the bother, but could one consider buying flights via a US or Canadian site/carrier to get cheaper flights? Perhaps you could you buy a return LAX-SYD-LAX journey from a US website, and just fork out for a cheap one way over to LAX... Also, buying a OW RTW fare departing from AKL could be beneficial at the moment due to the great exchange AUD>NZD exchange rate.

Does anyone have any tips to share, or is it really just a waste of time?

 

[medhead]

I thought that xONEs originating in some countries, possibly indonesia, are charged in US dollars. That might be worth considering assuming there are no payment difficulties

 

[Danger]

Another option is to to buy USD on one of those travel Visa cards. (I buy mine from ANZ - ANZ - ANZ Travel Card - Access Your Own Money Overseas).) You can then use today's rate in the future to book the flights that you really want, rather than book now in haste.

 

[medhead]

I can get cash at close to the headline exchange rate and no fees. That is much better than paying the excessive fees on a travel card.

 

[Danger]

But how do you use cash to pay for a flight ex-another country? The fees on the ANZ card are minimal in my experience - about $14 to get one then no cost to use as a Visa.

 

[medhead]

But how do you use cash to pay for a flight ex-another country? The fees on the ANZ card are minimal in my experience - about $14 to get one then no cost to use as a Visa.

Change the cash back to AUD and pay by the usual method. Or if the exchange rate is still the same then save the USD and pay with the usual method.

What about the recharge fee?
I just checked it is a 1.1% reload fee. Also I used to calculator to check the exchange rate on a ANZ Travel Card for A$1 it returned USD 0.9379. So that is basically 2% to 3% worse on the exchange rate than the headline rate.

 

[Danger]

Okay, fair enough.

The recharge is 1.1% which I try to avoid by loading up first or, if it works out better, buying a whole new card for ~$14. The downside is I now have 10 of these travel cards for my upcoming trip (each comes with a backup)!

 

[Sprucegoose]

With the AUD doing very well of late, it got me thinking about how to cash in on cheap flights by using such favourable exchange rates.

I don't know if it's feasible, or worth the bother, but could one consider buying flights via a US or Canadian site/carrier to get cheaper flights? Perhaps you could you buy a return LAX-SYD-LAX journey from a US website, and just fork out for a cheap one way over to LAX... Also, buying a OW RTW fare departing from AKL could be beneficial at the moment due to the great exchange AUD>NZD exchange rate.

Does anyone have any tips to share, or is it really just a waste of time?

Yes it can be worth it but you need to do your homework. I think Serfty has threaded on this subject.

I have a akl-syd-lax j class for 84k points to position to us and will buy off the qf us website a return from lax to aus - hopefully on special. Sometimes you can get pe for $3500 return. With better ug chances.

Others will have good tips with other qf sites if you want qf tickets. There was a good deal out of fra in one thread recently.

Hope that helps

Spruce

 

[medhead]

Okay, fair enough.

The recharge is 1.1% which I try to avoid by loading up first or, if it works out better, buying a whole new card for ~$14. The downside is I now have 10 of these travel cards for my upcoming trip (each comes with a backup)!

Just make sure to avoid the monthly fee after 12 months of inactivity.