Mystery flights

[Mattg]

Has anyone had much experience with mystery flights?

I really like the idea of booking a discounted flight to an unknown destination. The concept must surely be good for airlines too as they can sell off seats that would otherwise fly empty.

I just had a quick look and Virgin Australia seems to offer "mystery breaks", but they have to be booked as part of a holiday package (including accommodation) and are actually pretty expensive.

A quick Google search also brings up mysteryflights.com.au - has anyone heard of them? On the face of it they seem somewhat expensive as well.

I know that Germanwings/Eurowings offers mystery flights as I've used them when travelling around Europe. Basically you pay €66 (around $95), specify the city you want to depart and the outbound/return dates, and you get return flights to a random destination. You only find out where you'll be going and what flights you'll be on after the payment is made.

Does anyone know of any other airlines that offer cheap mystery flights?

 

[moa999]

Australian and Ansett used to offer them back on the day, until they worked out that last minute passengers are generally willing to pay a premium, so started raising prices instead

 

[JohnK]

I know a few people who used to do them in the 90's.

Great concept but you'd be hoping for interesting destinations rather than CBR-SYD again.

 

[serfty]

Compass sold them during the airline wars of the later 90's.

Qantas and Ansett joined in.

You could get flight only day trip or for more $$$, Flight + accom (1, 2 or more nights).

Initially $50 would get you a return gig - your would find out after 10 am the day before.

My mum did a few with some friends - she enjoyed (SYD /ADL /HBA) them until she scored QF610 MEL-xBNE-CNS with QF639(?) CNS-xBNE-MEL and 2½ hours in CNS.

The fares kept increasing until they reached around $150 before being discontinued in that form.

 

[eric2011]

I did a number of them. Always ended up BNE-SYD at some ungodly hour but were a bit of fun. They also did mystery nights, both 1 night and 2 nights. They seemed to take me to ADL if I remember correctly. IIRC the mystery flights were $99, the 1 nights were $199 and the 2 nights were $299

 

[clazman]

I did a few in the 90's ... ended up in Melbourne every time......

 

[jenib]

Red Balloon sells them - from $1100 for flights for two people, two nights 4 star accommodation and transfers https://www.redballoon.com.au/search?q=mystery

I won one a couple of years ago and sent my DH and BIL off as I was too busy with work. We received an envelope 24 hours before from memory and they went from there. They ended up going from Canberra to the Gold Coast and enjoyed it as their brother lived up there.

 

[drron]

The best example I have was of one of my 96 year old patients.She would save her cents and when she had $300 she would get her grandson to drop her off at BNE,go to the ticketing desks and see where $200 would get her a return airfare,$100 for living expenses for 3-4 days and off she went.I think she was well known and got a few good deals.
Loved her spirit.

 

[QF WP]

Ah yes, I remember taking quite a number of them on Saturdays when I had nothing to do. ex-BNE I remember going to SYD, MEL, CNS and TSV IIRC (pretty sure I never got ADL or CBR). Thankfully always found things to do or people to visit.

 

[juddles]

I had a boss who used to be famous (infamous?) with those mystery flights. He would have a few drinks and book one on the weekend and off he would go. Quite a few times he would call in "sick" on the Monday morning - except the long-distance tone you got when answering the call gave him away every time......

 

[LionsHeadMan]

Has anyone had much experience with mystery flights?

Hi Matt
Yes, I have used Mystery Flights - they are great! Their price includes transfers to and from the airports. Accommodation is minimum 4 star. You can buy the package or get a gift voucher on mysteryflights dot com dot au As a FYI, if you buy a Mystery Flight from Red Balloon - they purchase the package from Mystery Flights, on your behalf - so you may as well purchase it directly and get more flexibility! You can phone them on 02 94401455

 

[Mattg]

This may be of interest to some.

I see Lufthansa is now doing mystery flights out of Frankfurt and Munich, with prices starting at 69 Euros for destinations in eastern Europe. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me!

https://www.lufthansa-surprise.com/

 

[Timtammi]

This may be of interest to some.

I see Lufthansa is now doing mystery flights out of Frankfurt and Munich, with prices starting at 69 Euros for destinations in eastern Europe. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me!

https://www.lufthansa-surprise.com/

Thanks for the link, looks like fun, some great sidetrips there!