Is anyone else commuting?

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Commuter

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Just wondering if anyone else is commuting by air (not necessarily every day, but every week, for instance)?
 
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I have a National role for a major Australian Company and live in Adelaide. I (typically) leave Adelaide on a Tuesday morning and get back on Friday afternoon. I don't do "sparrow fart" flights and I'm back home for tea on Friday. I know these numbers don't add up , but you'll get the drift. I usually do 2 weeks a month in Melbourne, 2 weeks in Sydney and 1 week in Brisbane. Perth is about one in every 2 - 3 months.

Got the best of both worlds - live in Adelaide and work in Australia.
 
Commuter said:
Just wondering if anyone else is commuting by air (not necessarily every day, but every week, for instance)?

Back in the day, I'd often commute daily NTL-SYD-NTL on QF1647/ 1648 - the QF Link 717 services. There were half a dozen guys who literally did it every day - I would 1-3 times a week, either getting the train or driving the other days. At $49-$69 for a red e-deal on those flights, it was points and SCs aplenty for me.

Sadly, with the arrival of DeathStar, they were kaput. Aeroduck (OT) still offers such a service.

Now most of my work travel is to MEL or BNE, both frequently serviced by direct flights out of NTL, so the SYD connection isn't such a big deal for me.

For most of 2005 I would do a day in Melbourne every week, down and back the same day.
 
Living in Perth and working in Canberra for a while, I did a weekly return trip (which was how I got to platinum in the first place). At the time there were no direct between PER and CBR, so was always via somewhere.
 
My companys policy of cheapest available flights and therefore half the credit points (if any) makes commuting twice as painful.
 
oz_mark said:
Living in Perth and working in Canberra for a while, I did a weekly return trip (which was how I got to platinum in the first place). At the time there were no direct between PER and CBR, so was always via somewhere.

That sounds like a rather painful commute!

SeatBackForward the only thing 'glorified' about the plane ride in comparison to a bus ride is the price. :D
 
Commuter said:
That sounds like a rather painful commute!

And on discount economy tickets it is a lot of flying to get to platinum. At the time I usually got 60 SC for the round trip. Usually went PER/SYD/CBR and return was CBR/ADL/PER.
 
oz_mark said:
And on discount economy tickets it is a lot of flying to get to platinum.

It is, isn't it.

Some of the time, the difference between the available discount economy and the FlexiSaver is about $100 and it may be worthwhile for me to start using FlexiSaver on those occasions (if I remember correctly, FlexiSaver is counted as a full economy on domestic?).
 
Commuter said:
It is, isn't it.

Some of the time, the difference between the available discount economy and the FlexiSaver is about $100 and it may be worthwhile for me to start using FlexiSaver on those occasions (if I remember correctly, FlexiSaver is counted as a full economy on domestic?).

Flexi-Save is now counted as Full Economy. I would need to check, but when I was doing most of my commutes to Canberra I think it actually had to be Y class to be counted as full economy.
 
My approach to my employers regarding the "cheapest fare" policy is that I remind them about the rules. No cancellation or refunds, and no changes less than 24hrs. That means:

1) I leave early to the airport so no hanging back for extra meetings or finishing off tasks I'm working on.

2) If for any reason I am delayed, they have to forefeit the discount ticket AND pay the fare required to get me home on the next available flight (usually a full fare at the last moment). Because i'm not hanging around for the next discount fare to suit them.

At least that way I get the flights that I am booked on, or the flexible fares..
 
I don't even get to remind the employer of the rules, since I foot the bill for commuting!
 
Things change constantly depending on what the finance people and accountants are focussing on as the latest cost to try and manage. I think airfares are a little off the radar at the moment as my recent flights have booked into 'B'.
 
oz_mark said:
Flexi-Save is now counted as Full Economy.
I thought so. Thanks for the confirmation. I might start travelling on FlexiSaver if it looks like I'll miss out of Platinum (I think I'll make it in another 6-9 months by just travelling on discount economy, but it might be a bit of a close shave). I'm getting an average of 120 SCs per month, so it's cutting it somewhat fine, although my planned visit overseas in J should bump it up quite nicely (but depends on the leave and workload).
 
I live in Hobart and work in Sydney - not much fun since QF all but pulled out of the route....
 
I actually thought about commuting once.

I've done some university study at one of the fine Melbourne universities.

If I continued on, then I would be required to attend once per week. Seriously gave thought to flying down and back every week to finish things off.

Once I figured out the cost and the eventual tax rebates, I realised that this really wasn't the best option to get the degree I wanted. But it still remains an option one day -- especially if I can convince work to pay for it :D

(BTW, the course I was doing is not offered where I am, so it does have merit!)
 
For a six week period and a three Month period in 1994 and 1996 respectively, I commuted from MEL-SYD on Sundays and back Friday evenings.

Just wish I had the LT SC's from those flights..... :rolleyes:
 
For about 6 months (back in 2001 I think) I was commuting between BNE and DFW. It was 2 weeks there and 2 weeks home each month. Did wonders for helping me achieve QF LTG status as each trip was a DONE4 (non-optimised in order to get back home in the quickest possible time).
 
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