JetStar Birthday Sale (BOGO Flights)

[kangarooflyer88]

Just thought I'd share that JetStar is celebrating their 18th birthday by offering buy one get one free fares on many destinations in their route network. The promotion runs until Thursday May 5th with Club Jetstar members having early access today (Tuesday May 3rd).

Some fares I'm seeing from the site:



One thing that is unclear from the site is which types of fares are covered by this promo - it just those booking a Starter base fare or does it cover Max and other bundles that accrue QFF points and status credits. If it covers all bundles then this could potentially be a great way to rack up the status credits.

-RooFlyer88

 

[exceladdict]

Interestingly I'm considering booking a JQ leg for the first time in a very long time. Thanks for bringing this up.
Edit: won't work for my needs as by BOGO it's buy one way, get the return free, as opposed to buy one get a second seat. May still be useful for some.

 

[aikman]

One thing that is unclear from the site is which types of fares are covered by this promo - it just those booking a Starter base fare or does it cover Max and other bundles that accrue QFF points and status credits. If it covers all bundles then this could potentially be a great way to rack up the status credits.

It is extremely rare for bundles to be discounted. The 'half off' promo was one of those extremely rare occasions. I think that was only the 2nd time ever that I remember bundles being discounted.

 

[Saab34]

The $0 fare needs to be in the travel window not the outbound.

I was wanting to book a short getaway later this month, so what we did was book it reverse to basically pickup a free return flight later this year.
Example
Booking 1- Outbound May, Return October
Booking 2- Inbound May, Outbound October.

Also wanted a one way flight in July Holidays. I just added a free $0 airfare onto it for next Feb 2023 don’t have a lot of time to play around with that one.

Might be another dodge loophole around Flex bundles but I’ll let the clever ones figure that one out.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

The $0 fare needs to be in the travel window not the outbound.

I was wanting to book a short getaway later this month, so what we did was book it reverse to basically pickup a free return flight later this year.
Example
Booking 1- Outbound May, Return October
Booking 2- Inbound May, Outbound October.

Also wanted a one way flight in July Holidays. I just added a free $0 airfare onto it for next Feb 2023 don’t have a lot of time to play around with that one.

Might be another dodge loophole around Flex bundles but I’ll let the clever ones figure that one out.

Could you comment on whether Max fares are included in the promo?

 

[Saab34]

The bundles just add on at full price.

Bundles on the $0 leg seem worthless as you can’t really change or cancel the flights in which the bundles tend to be useful for.
Unless your only after the status/points.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

The bundles just add on at full price.

Bundles on the $0 leg seem worthless as you can’t really change or cancel the flights in which the bundles tend to be useful for.
Unless your only after the status/points.

Just to clarify your point, adding a fare bundle means you pay the fare differential between the Starter fare and the bundle. Still, this could represent decent value for money. In particular, one can travel SYD to ZQN for ~$500 return on a MAX fare and that would net you 80 status credits. Not the cheapest way to earn status credits, but certainly not a bad value for what you are getting.

In terms of MAX vs Starter fare it really depends on what you're after. Yes the status credits and points are one key reason we go after said fare, but you also have to consider how much you would pay for getting a better leg room seat, a meal, checked baggage, etc. If you are a simple traveller with very basic needs, then yes the starter fare will do it. But the moment you start adding baggage or selecting a seat, the cost savings become very minimal, especially since you are also netting SCs out of the whole thing.

So is this as good as the half off fares across all fares we saw last year with JQ? No! But it's still a good value since it represents a decent discount off the bundles, since in essence you are just paying to "upgrade" the fare back to MAX rather than paying the whole Max bundle cost.

-RooFlyer88

 

[AIRwin]

VA has a "We're coming to the party" sale:

Virgin crashes Jetstar's birthday with flash sale fares from $49

Virgin Australia has made a cheeky move to undercut its rival Jetstar. Here's why Aussie travellers are the winners.

au.finance.yahoo.com

 

[kangarooflyer88]

VA has a "We're coming to the party" sale:

Virgin crashes Jetstar's birthday with flash sale fares from $49

Virgin Australia has made a cheeky move to undercut its rival Jetstar. Here's why Aussie travellers are the winners.

au.finance.yahoo.com

Say the sale, there were a couple interesting fares but nothing that really pushed me over the edge to consider them.

So far I booked Sydney to Sunshine Coast for $60 return departing in late Feb '23 over the weekend on a base fare. I debated spending the extra money to get a slightly better fare with baggage and meals but asked myself, is it really worth spending all this money for what is essentially a weekend getaway? As for hotel, I'm planning instating at the Novotel Sunshine Coast Resort which other reviewers have highly recommended (and for which as an Accor+ I get a decent rate).

-RooFlyer88