Best tool for finding cheapest domestic flights

[Snowant]

I'll be needing to use flights for day trips on the most over-priced flight sector in Australia: CBR-SYD. I'm hoping to be accepted onto a drug trial at Macquarie Uni Hospital for my very aggressive cancer, but some days will be 8-hour ones and driving will be an unsafe nightmare. Flying without luggage seems to be the best way.

I did a quick google on my phone yesterday while up there, and google itself seemed to come up with a mixture of flights (stunningly expensive of course), but I was puzzled as to what tool was behind it and didn't try booking anything.

It's pretty-much QF and Virgin on that leg, Virgin is often Link airways. Is there a useful aggregator that just throws up the best flights enabling you to just... book them?
The first day trip will probably be next week, middle of the school holidays and last-minute, so they will gouge me something chronic but it's for a biopsy of the cancer for the US company that owns the drug and the trial. The other long days will have a bit more notice so hopefully I can get them a tad cheaper.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I'll be needing to use flights for day trips on the most over-priced flight sector in Australia: CBR-SYD. I'm hoping to be accepted onto a drug trial at Macquarie Uni Hospital for my very aggressive cancer, but some days will be 8-hour ones and driving will be an unsafe nightmare. Flying without luggage seems to be the best way.

I did a quick google on my phone yesterday while up there, and google itself seemed to come up with a mixture of flights (stunningly expensive of course), but I was puzzled as to what tool was behind it and didn't try booking anything.

It's pretty-much QF and Virgin on that leg, Virgin is often Link airways. Is there a useful aggregator that just throws up the best flights enabling you to just... book them?
The first day trip will probably be next week, middle of the school holidays and last-minute, so they will gouge me something chronic but it's for a biopsy of the cancer for the US company that owns the drug and the trial. The other long days will have a bit more notice so hopefully I can get them a tad cheaper.

Sorry to hear your news and best of luck with the trial!

I’d use googleflights, find the cheapest pairing, then book direct with the airline. That can be a bit of a pain, but once you get used to it it’s pretty quick… just a couple of clicks and apple pay and you’re done.

If you need to make changes or rearranges I rather be dealing with the airline than via some travel agent. If you have to change/cancel, you don’t want to be stuck with additional agent fees.

I would not use webjet as they charge high fees including a service fee for booking and a ‘fare guarantee’… which are easily avoidable by booking with the airline.

 

[Beer_budget]

I'm having a similar challenge, though with a bit more flexibility because I can pick my days. It's looking like I'll need to fly up every 6-8 weeks, and the problem with all the aggregators (and the airlines) is the search will show you the cheapest flight price each way, but you can about guarantee that even if you can get that fare outbound, you won't be able to get a cheap return fare.

You might have more luck on the longer days @Snowant because I've been finding that the early morning departures ex CBR and the 8pm ish returns are often the cheapest fares of the day. It's trying to do a half day in either direction that's a PITA.

If I figure out a better solution, I'll report back!

 

[Snowant]

Sorry to hear your news and best of luck with the trial!

I’d use googleflights, find the cheapest pairing, then book direct with the airline. That can be a bit of a pain, but once you get used to it it’s pretty quick… just a couple of clicks and apple pay and you’re done.

If you need to make changes or rearranges I rather be dealing with the airline than via some travel agent. If you have to change/cancel, you don’t want to be stuck with additional agent fees.

I would not use webjet as they charge high fees including a service fee for booking and a ‘fare guarantee’… which are easily avoidable by booking with the airline.

Ah ha, that might have been googleflights that I was seeing when I did my search, it puzzled me. And normally I'd go to Webjet but last time I tried to use it, it was faintly annoying. Good to know about the fees etc, that explains a few things.

Most of my previous travel booking has been for international flights, with domestic just tacked on, and work booked the domestic-only trips.

So googleflights, grab the good ones and book direct, tick.
Thank you for that, that makes sense. (won't be using apple pay though, anything apple is weird).

 

[Snowant]

I'm having a similar challenge, though with a bit more flexibility because I can pick my days. It's looking like I'll need to fly up every 6-8 weeks, and the problem with all the aggregators (and the airlines) is the search will show you the cheapest flight price each way, but you can about guarantee that even if you can get that fare outbound, you won't be able to get a cheap return fare.

You might have more luck on the longer days @Snowant because I've been finding that the early morning departures ex CBR and the 8pm ish returns are often the cheapest fares of the day. It's trying to do a half day in either direction that's a PITA.

If I figure out a better solution, I'll report back!

Darn! If I am accepted onto the trial, it'll be weekly trips up for 2+ months, then fortnightly, then monthly. Lots of lab-rat obs and some admissions too.

For overnight-type stays, I'll just drive as it's easier with luggage and the hotel they use, Mercure Macquarie Park, is a nice old fashioned place with outdoor parking. And navigating from Mascot to Macquarie with luggage will be a giant pain. Did it last year when going to Westmead for Car-T, once-only it was OK but cars do it better.

It's weird (but good!) that the early mornings/late returns are cheaper, as normally they're the ones the business and pollies use, which is why Cbr-Syd is so extortionate. But they'd be the ones I'd be after for the long days.

The thing that google showed me (which sounds like it's googleflights) seemed quite happy to mix and match flights in the search. I just wish one of the cheap-cheap mobs still did Cbr. We need Tiger back.

 

[Beer_budget]

The thing about the pollies is they come up Sunday night/Monday morning and fly back Thursday evenings of sitting weeks, as do most of the hangers-on, so if you've got a midweek date (mine are mostly Wednesday arvos and Thursday mornings) it's not so bad.

I've been considering using Amex Travel as a search engine because I'm pretty sure I can filter flights by departure times, but it was down when I booked the first trip for a couple of weeks. Other online booking platforms might also let you search this way, and perhaps someone will be along with a suggestion.

Best of luck with your trial!

 

[AuSammy]

Is Skyscanner not suitable for domestic searches? Seems to work for me. Find the flights then book direct.

 

[Snowant]

Is Skyscanner not suitable for domestic searches? Seems to work for me. Find the flights then book direct.

Never used skyscanner. when I flew internationally, it was all just QF, booked direct, so I could use points for upgrades. I'll try it and googleflights and see if there's a stand-out.

 

[Beer_budget]

Looks like Skyscanner will work for me, thank you! A lot faster too, which since I'm usually checking for matching appointment slots in the other tab is very helpful

 

[SYD]

I’d use googleflights, find the cheapest pairing, then book direct with the airline. That can be a bit of a pain, but once you get used to it it’s pretty quick… just a couple of clicks and apple pay and you’re done.

Oh, that just prompted me to check ITA Matrix and it’s working again for QF Domestic. There was a period where it would only pull full Flex Y fares (as mentioned in another thread here somewhere).