Qantas really testing the market! SYD-MEL now $145 standard red e-deal!

[amaroo]

I can remember when the cheapest SYD-BNE-SYD fares were around $600.

 

[serfty]

I can remember when the cheapest SYD-BNE-SYD fares were around $600.

$600 -interesting ...

In 1984 a "Super Apex" return MEL-SYD fare was $208.

In the mid to late 90's for work the standard B or Y fares MEL/SYD that I travelled for work on were $500+.

 

[amaroo]

$600 -interesting ...

In 1984 a "Super Apex" return MEL-SYD fare was $208.

In the mid to late 90's for work the standard B or Y fares MEL/SYD that I travelled for work on were $500+.

I left home and moved to Sydney, April 1988. Always went home for either Easter or Xmas.....some years we flew others we drove. Late 80's/early 90's the cheapest return fare was around $600. When Compass came on the scene I gave it a go.....that was an eye opener!

 

[hossein_au]

One could say welcome to reality

we are too used to paying peanuts for flying distances that are so vast...unrealistically low pricing was never going to stay.

I don't buy this argument for a millisecond. Mel-SYD is also one of the busiest routes in the world, so the argument of lack of volume doesn't gel either. How come LCC carriers in the US and Europe can offer prices way cheaper than what we get here? Last I checked US distances are not much different to those in Australia. If anything the golden triangle here is akin to LAX-SFO distance. We just do not have the level of true competition Europeans and Americans take for granted.

 

[JohnK]

JohnK has posted before that, due to some advice he has received, he does not claim any of his weekly travel as a tax deduction.

I have tried to enlighten him that he might legally be able to claim at least some of it - to no avail.

Perhaps you are right.

In the main I am a PAYE employee who works in Brisbane. The ATO does not care that I base myself in Sydney. The company does not want to help in the slightest. Why not include a yearly travel allowance in the annual salary? Why not include other benefits? Because they do not care.

 

[dajop]

Mel-SYD is also one of the busiest routes in the world, so the argument of lack of volume doesn't gel either. How come LCC carriers in the US and Europe can offer prices way cheaper than what we get here?.

I'm confused, this thread is about pricing on QF, and you are comparing it to LCC's in Europe and US. A fairer comparison would be between JQ/TT and LCC's.

Picked a random Tuesday in June over comparable sectors to MEL/SYD (in Europe, London-FRA, in US Boston-Washington) and got $49 (w/o luggage), $69 (w 20kg luggage) on Tiger MEL-SYD ($8 less if using mastercard debit card). London-Frankfurt, cheapest was Ryanair (STN-Hahn) $37 (w/o lug) & $82 (w 15kg luggage) plus airports miles from the two cities. Cross the Atlantic, BOS-IAD on Jet Blue was $68 AUD with or without luggage. Not a lot of difference really. Full service carriers were $95 (QF), $106 (LH) and $68 (UA without luggage) respectively. I wouldn't call that "way cheaper".

 

[QF2220]

Reality is that AU is quite an expensive place at the moment. As someone who lives overseas and gets back every 6 months or so, it has become so much more expensive in all sorts of areas. There really needs to be something to lance the boil of cost. I dont see that $145 lowest airfares are any different to $38 mains in a country NSW restaurant that was about $28 2 years ago.

And we have just been through a price war, you can expect there to be some sort of recovery to be made by both QF and VA...

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Perhaps you are right.

In the main I am a PAYE employee who works in Brisbane. The ATO does not care that I base myself in Sydney. The company does not want to help in the slightest. Why not include a yearly travel allowance in the annual salary? Why not include other benefits? Because they do not care.

Are you sure about that?
I would speak to a well qualified accountant.
Travel is part of your work/job. It is therefore a business expense and thus can be claimed. What about your accommodation up in BNE for the week you are there?
Medhead does similar (ADL-SYD) weekly. Maybe ask him?

 

[Oneworldplus2]

I can remember when the cheapest SYD-BNE-SYD fares were around $600.

$600 -interesting ...

In 1984 a "Super Apex" return MEL-SYD fare was $208.

In the mid to late 90's for work the standard B or Y fares MEL/SYD that I travelled for work on were $500+.

I remember years ago when I was based in BNE, my old boss told me that when Ansett went under, QF was the sole operator on BNE-DRW route and that prices went up astronomically overnight (I think he said $400-$600).

 

[QF2220]

Are you sure about that?
I would speak to a well qualified accountant.
Travel is part of your work/job. It is therefore a business expense and thus can be claimed. What about your accommodation up in BNE for the week you are there?
Medhead does similar (ADL-SYD) weekly. Maybe ask him?

Travel to and from work is not a deductible expense.

 

[serfty]

Travel to and from work is not a deductible expense.

But travelling to and from ones place of business to a work site can be. (Even then there are specific criteria.)

This has been discussed before, both online and in person. I have given up.

 

[QF2220]

But travelling to and from ones place of business to a work site can be. (Even then there are specific criteria.)

This has been discussed before, both online and in person. I have given up.

Absolutely true, however the post suggested that the SYD-BNE-SYD travel was more a commute to and from work by personal preference instead of work related travel, for which i would expect the company to pay for every time.

 

[boomy]

Travel to and from work is not a deductible expense.

So airline travel is not tax deductible?

 

[serfty]

Absolutely true, however the post suggested that the SYD-BNE-SYD travel was more a commute to and from work by personal preference instead of work related travel, for which i would expect the company to pay for every time.

Of I was flying weekly in such a manner I would have by now formally restructured my situation to at least allow part of the travel be deductible - both at the GST input credit and expenses levels.

 

[medhead]

Are you sure about that?
I would speak to a well qualified accountant.
Travel is part of your work/job. It is therefore a business expense and thus can be claimed. What about your accommodation up in BNE for the week you are there?
Medhead does similar (ADL-SYD) weekly. Maybe ask him?

Travel to and from the primary workplace is considered a personal expense. But travel to another workplace and then home is deductible. I use this a bit

There is also living away from home allowance. But since the iPhone app crash when I tried to write about that I'm not retyping it.

I haven't tried as much as Serfty to explain this stuff. But I've also given up.

Travel to and from work is not a deductible expense.

Actually it depends.

 

[medhead]

Of I was flying weekly in such a manner I would have by now formally restructured my situation to at least allow part of the travel be deductible - both at the GST input credit and expenses levels.

I need to ask you about this next time I see you.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Travel to and from work is not a deductible expense.

This situation might be different....

 

[JohnK]

Of I was flying weekly in such a manner I would have by now formally restructured my situation to at least allow part of the travel be deductible - both at the GST input credit and expenses levels.

I would have to setup a business, have some income in Sydney, pay more to do tax returns and put myself under more scrutiny when the ATO sees that I actually work full time in Brisbane and have no other income.

The thing I should have done is actually bought a place to avoid the ~$15,000 wasted each year on accommodation. That would have been negatively geared and I would have saved income tax.

And if we go that far there was no need to travel back to Sydney every week or even every second week. Once a month would have been more than enough.

But I am a stubborn old cough and I spend more way too much time already in a boring sleepy country town and need to get out to reality as often as possible.

 

[markis10]

Of I was flying weekly in such a manner I would have by now formally restructured my situation to at least allow part of the travel be deductible - both at the GST input credit and expenses levels.

Good luck with that, its expressly stated in the act that travel between two workplaces is only for work so long as you dont reside there:

Travel between 2 places is not

travel between workplaces if one of the places you are travelling between is a place at which you reside.

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/itaa1997240/s25.100.html

The concept that a place of residence could also be a workplace was tested in the high court in 2001, in Federal Commissioner of Taxation v Payne, to the ATOs favor. In order to make a claim, you need to show that work activity was started before the travel ( per the first limb of s.8.1 of the ITA), as evidenced in a prior court case of Luney v Commissioner of Taxation (1958) which would be most applicable in JohnKs scenario. That case found that travel occuring between the intervals of work rather than during the engagement of work made it prepartory and thus a private expense.

 

[TonyHancock]

Good luck with that, its expressly stated in the act that travel between two workplaces is only for work so long as you dont reside there:

I don't believe luck would come into it. Seems pretty simple to me. Like serfty I would restructure my situation and ensure that the major part of my journey, i.e. flight, was tax deductible. It is, I suspect, easier for certain roles than others.