QANTAS's domestic sale(s)

[ProggerPete]

What do you think the odds are for a sale MEL-SYD for late Nov, early DEC?

 

[JohnK]

Pretty good but what sort of price are you expecting? I think October- early December will be ~$109 where as January - March will be ~$99.

Miss the cheap airfares. These airfares are hurting me as I cannot go home as often.

 

[ProggerPete]

Pretty good but what sort of price are you expecting? I think October- early December will be ~$109 where as January - March will be ~$99.

I'm trying to decide if $80ish jetstar is a good idea. Flying Qantas would have the advantage of letting me claim a couple of lounge invites that I could then offload.

 

[medhead]

I like that the qantas website is telling me about amazing adelaide on the rotating banner. Fares are the normal everyday minimum level.

 

[kevrosmith]

I like that the qantas website is telling me about amazing adelaide on the rotating banner. Fares are the normal everyday minimum level.

Is that called marketing spin... ?

 

[JohnK]

I'm trying to decide if $80ish jetstar is a good idea. Flying Qantas would have the advantage of letting me claim a couple of lounge invites that I could then offload.

I don't know about you but for me that is $80ish than I would want to pay.

As an aside I would have expected Qantas to have a sale by now considering Queens Birthday long weekend is fast approaching. Both airlines appear to have reduced the frequency of their sales and the airfares are not that great anyway.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I feel slightly embarrassed to ask this (as I have a habit of just deleting QF and JQ emails) but does QF have any worthwhile sales and if yes, do they include flexi and J seats? Would anyone care to hazard a guess about what the expectation may be for BNE-CNS (and VV) for the various classes? (I'm going again for gold on both VA and QF rather than plat and silver)

 

[Bundy Bear]

I feel slightly embarrassed to ask this (as I have a habit of just deleting QF and JQ emails) but does QF have any worthwhile sales and if yes, do they include flexi and J seats? Would anyone care to hazard a guess about what the expectation may be for BNE-CNS (and VV) for the various classes? (I'm going again for gold on both VA and QF rather than plat and silver)

Currently BNE-CNS are $599 in J; I did let a $499 sale go in J a few weeks back but I wasn't ready to pull the trigger.

If you want to travel in peak season then $599 might be the cheapest but if a few months away say October/November then I will wait.

 

[kevrosmith]

I feel slightly embarrassed to ask this (as I have a habit of just deleting QF and JQ emails) but does QF have any worthwhile sales and if yes, do they include flexi and J seats? Would anyone care to hazard a guess about what the expectation may be for BNE-CNS (and VV) for the various classes? (I'm going again for gold on both VA and QF rather than plat and silver)

I've never seen Flex fares included in sales.

Red eDeals on a sale are rarely below $130 these days, though I notice the price back in March and April was $109 (travel July-Sept) and $119 (travel Oct-Dec).

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Currently BNE-CNS are $599 in J; I did let a $499 sale go in J a few weeks back

Thanks BB! I saw the $599 and thought it a bit steep, but $499 is Ok. I have got VA J for $419, but usually the best in VA is $485 or thereabouts, so to gain gold, I'd go for a few of the $499 ones if they crawl out of the woodwork. These are on going so any time is fine. Do we see J on sale much?

I've never seen Flex fares included in sales.

Red eDeals on a sale are rarely below $130 these days, though I notice the price back in March and April was $109 (travel July-Sept) and $119 (travel Oct-Dec).

Many thanks kevrosmith! The current JQ is about $89.50 with the bundle (min to give QF SCs whatever they call it), but it means flying JQ. A bummer with no QF flex fares in sales as they're the ones I really want. I can get VA for circa $239 flexi. Maybe I need to stop comparing so much and just bite the bullet!

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Not exactly a QF sale, but I do note QF sell JQ seats as flex seats at a higher rate than the JQ fare + max bundle. What's the reason for this? EG. OOL-CNS JQ Max = $279 ........ QF same flight flex (even state it's a JQ max fare) for $348. Apart from gouging, is there any good reason to pay QF an extra $69? Do the max SCs add into LTS and count toward the loyalty bonuses?

If they do, then that seems to be a good way of earning back QF gold for about the same price as VA fares (because I wouldn't have to pay the commute costs to BNE when OOL is just down the road for me). I also note JQ run a Dreamliner occasionally OOL-CNS with J priced about the same as the QF J sale price that Bundy Bear mentioned above. I assume JQ 787 J is OK?

 

[CaviAck]

Not exactly a QF sale, but I do note QF sell JQ seats as flex seats at a higher rate than the JQ fare + max bundle. What's the reason for this? EG. OOL-CNS JQ Max = $279 ........ QF same flight flex (even state it's a JQ max fare) for $348. Apart from gouging, is there any good reason to pay QF an extra $69? Do the max SCs add into LTS and count toward the loyalty bonuses?

If they do, then that seems to be a good way of earning back QF gold for about the same price as VA fares (because I wouldn't have to pay the commute costs to BNE when OOL is just down the road for me). I also note JQ run a Dreamliner occasionally OOL-CNS with J priced about the same as the QF J sale price that Bundy Bear mentioned above. I assume JQ 787 J is OK?

Probably because the price listed on QF's page might have luggage and whatnot other extras included? (Still a bit high for that though...)
As for any good reason, there is none. The SCs earned from the bundles count towards lifetime status but not the loyalty points bonuses.

Just be careful of the JQ J fares. The base fares don't earn points or SCs and the J max bundle makes the pricing ridiculous.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Probably because the price listed on QF's page might have luggage and whatnot other extras included? (Still a bit high for that though...)
As for any good reason, there is none. The SCs earned from the bundles count towards lifetime status but not the loyalty points bonuses.

Just be careful of the JQ J fares. The base fares don't earn points or SCs and the J max bundle makes the pricing ridiculous.

Great, thanks for that confirmation. Shame about the loyalty bonus but it was the SCs I was mainly interested in. I had my hopes up with the JQ Dreamliner but on a closer look, there's only 3 of those between now and Christmas (none anywhere near when I want to fly) so it looks like hopes are dashed (the price was actually around $500 including the J Max bundle). Given the flights I'm interested in leave OOL in the mid am, it also looks like the QP should be open as well. As much as I hate to say it, I may again be a JQ flyer soon . Does the JQ flights count toward the QF metal requirement?

 

[CaviAck]

Great, thanks for that confirmation. Shame about the loyalty bonus but it was the SCs I was mainly interested in. I had my hopes up with the JQ Dreamliner but on a closer look, there's only 3 of those between now and Christmas (none anywhere near when I want to fly) so it looks like hopes are dashed (the price was actually around $500 including the J Max bundle). Given the flights I'm interested in leave OOL in the mid am, it also looks like the QP should be open as well. As much as I hate to say it, I may again be a JQ flyer soon . Does the JQ flights count toward the QF metal requirement?

I'm probably a predominantly a JQ flyer (pretty close split between QF and JQ) and they're ok as long as you keep your expectations reasonable. When you say QF metal requirement, are you referring to the ~'s? If so then yes. I qualified WP with 1350SC on AA, 2 flights on QF and pushed over the line with 2 flights on JQ hahaha.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

When you say QF metal requirement, are you referring to the ~'s?

Yes that's what I was referring to. Thanks again for the confirmations. I'm fast running out of excuses to book some! The max bundle seems to give me most of what I have as a VA plat......except perhaps fly ahead. Funny how the world turns...what was old is now new again, and all that!

 

[CaviAck]

Yes that's what I was referring to. Thanks again for the confirmations. I'm fast running out of excuses to book some! The max bundle seems to give me most of what I have as a VA plat......except perhaps fly ahead. Funny how the world turns...what was old is now new again, and all that!

You'd be surprised what a bundle and flying JQ can do. My qualifying JQ flights were a SYD-OOL-SYD. Got off at OOL and decided to see if I could move to an earlier flight at the service desk. Not only were they the nicest JQ staff I can remember interacting with, the lady moved me to the next flight leaving, that being the immediate turn around of the flight I just got off departing in less than 20 mins.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

You'd be surprised what a bundle and flying JQ can do. My qualifying JQ flights were a SYD-OOL-SYD. Got off at OOL and decided to see if I could move to an earlier flight at the service desk. Not only were they the nicest JQ staff I can remember interacting with, the lady moved me to the next flight leaving, that being the immediate turn around of the flight I just got off departing in less than 20 mins.

Excellent. Thanks. The only other concern that niggles at me is the poor frequency OOL-CNS. BNE-CNS has so many more options, but even the JQ poor frequency is head and tails above all the others (ie....zero direct flights). The problem might be however, if an aircraft goes tech or is delayed by weather, BNE is a long way to go to make an alternate flight.

 

[CaviAck]

Excellent. Thanks. The only other concern that niggles at me is the poor frequency OOL-CNS. BNE-CNS has so many more options, but even the JQ poor frequency is head and tails above all the others (ie....zero direct flights).

Not surprised about OOL-CNS, that's a tourist destination to a tourist destination, I think it's only 1 flight daily on JQ?. BNE-CNS has (relatively) plenty of flights, especially when QF and JQ frequencies are combined.

 

[moa999]

And a 2-leg SYD-CNS at 10+15 is one of the more reasonable fares at times

 

[Deleted member 29185]

And a 2-leg SYD-CNS at 10+15 is one of the more reasonable fares at times

That's true. I just checked and OOL-SYD-CNS sale with plus bundle is about $190 (25SCs) compared with OOL-CNS with a max bundle of $279 (30SCs) and offers far better frequency. Just means flying a few more hours and no good seats or luggage.