Regular Ticketing MEL-BNE Once a month

[muzzman]

Hi All

First post - have been lurking for a little bit and have got to say I am in awe of the wealth of knowledge and experience you all seem to have.

A bit of necessary background first...

I work for a very small Brisbane based software company (<10 people) that is exclusively in the mining/resources sector. There are a couple of us that do a lot of travel out to the remote mine sites and personally I average about 40 return flights a year and am silver status on Virgin, Qantas and Air Canada. However we by no means have a large travel budget or even have a corporate travel agent (we do all the booking of flights and hotels ourselves).

So on to my question...

I am currently living in Canada (still working for the same company) and will be heading back to live in Melbourne later this year. One of the many options I am looking at is to go up to head office in Brisbane for one week every month and do the rest remotely.

Is it possible for an average joe like me to book a set of flights like that for say a year in advance (so 12 return trips) for a set fee? Or would I have to do each one separately and just wait for the best deals on each one? Or would I have to go through a corporate travel agent to do it?

Sorry if this question has been asked before but I tried doing a search on regular flying and regular ticketing on both here and google and just got a lot of fluff.

Thanks heaps

Muzzman

 

[MelUser]

Do you mean like a discount if you buy 12 bottles of the same wine at once?

Sometimes they throw in a free 13th bottle.

This is what a frequent flyer program does. Pay for 12 flights and you'll have enough for a free 13th flight with points.

 

[muzzman]

Well let's go back a setp

Is it even possible to buy in bulk at all - even without a discount?

Like can I say I want 12 fully flexible round trip tickets, MEL-BNE, open ended i.e. able to travel anytime with not much notice.

Obviously can't do it online but could I go into a Qantas agent and ask to do that?

 

[Dave Noble]

Some airlines have, or had, facilities that might do what you want but I am not aware of QF having such a facility

Dave

 

[markis10]

You would be better to plan you 12 months of travel ahead and wait for the regular sales, if you keep your travel out of school holidays you can do well, recent sale fares by QF has Me;-Bne for around $80. Such sales are on ususally once a month.

Sometimes for business travel you can also get cheaper flights during the week to the Gold Coast, as the destination tends to be leisure based with peak activity on weekends, for instance if you are looking at travel in August:

Up on the 3rd Back on the 7th Aug

QF MEL_BNE $144 each way

JQ AVV-BNE $99 each way

JQ - MEL-OOL $89 each way

DJ MEL-BNE $119 up $139 back

DJ MEL-OOL $89 each way

I have not bothered with Tiger as I dont think they would suit....

 

[Flashback]

Well let's go back a setp

Is it even possible to buy in bulk at all - even without a discount?

Like can I say I want 12 fully flexible round trip tickets, MEL-BNE, open ended i.e. able to travel anytime with not much notice.

Obviously can't do it online but could I go into a Qantas agent and ask to do that?

Given the OP is after fully flexible tickets, which would be the most expensive what difference would it make whether purchase is now, or 24 hours before the flight? The price will be the same as these are not discounted.

You *may* find it changes slightly if the base fare is changed but that's a risk I assume you'd be willing to take.

 

[markis10]

Given the OP is after fully flexible tickets, which would be the most expensive what difference would it make whether purchase is now, or 24 hours before the flight? .

I dont believe the OP is after fully flexible, just using that as an example.
An important point to make to the OP is that the discount tickets are changeable with 24 hours notice for a change fee + fare difference.

And its fairly rare to see a flexi fare not being available which is $200 cheaper than the fully flex. Put it this way, I doubt one return trip would require changes to both flights, so booking two special flights and them changing one to a flexi saver the night before on the BNE-MEL leg would cost $140+$140+$50 fee + $260 to upgrade to the flexi saver, total $590.

Compare that to a round trip fully flex cost of $1200! People who buy the full fare tickets do so because their company gets a rebate at the end of the year that reduces the cost or becuase they have no choice last minute travel, for those that plan ahead there are savings to be made that dont mean too much less flexibility but a lot less cost.

 

[harvyk]

Do you truly need to book your flights a year out? You'd probably find it cheaper to book once a month (doesn't take long online) and I'd be very surprised if a week or two out from leaving each time you couldn't find fares on the flights you want, and you'd probably find fairly cheap fares which provided your travel doesn't vary too much would be cheaper that fully flexible.

I just did quick search for flights between Melbourne and Brisbane for tomorrow morning, and I can still get seats on every flight between Melbourne and Brisbane (and return) for tomorrow morning in both Y and J on QF. Also if I'm being tight with money I can still get up there on the first flight of the day for $169, and return at the end of the day for $186.

 

[straitman]

muzzman,

Welcome to AFF.

I suggest you talk to JohnK who commutes SYD-BNE-SYD weekly. He may have a few hints.

 

[Mal]

There is also the possibility of getting cashback on some Qantas fares if you have an Amex Qantas Corporate card: Business Solutions - Good for Business - American Express Qantas Corporate Card

Might be something to think about (although at 2-5%, with a minimum of $10K spend per year not sure how much that would add up to over a year! I also have a feeling (but not sure) that some of the cheapest fares may also be ineligible.)

 

[muzzman]

Thanks all for your replies - like I said just looking at options at the moment but you've given me a few things to ponder over.

Thanks again,

Muzzman

 

[JohnK]

Last night and today I booked 13 flights SYD-BNE or vice versa for June and July. Unfortunately some of the travel period is peak school holiday time and I could not do too much about the price. I paid $79, $85 and $94 for most of the airfares and just one I paid $120 as there was no choice.

I try to book the cheapest possible airfares as the money comes out of my pocket and I am now waiting for the next sale to include August and September flights. Not many flights to book in August and September anyway as I will be away for 5 weeks overseas.

You do not need to book too far in advance. Just wait for the sale periods and book then. Also in your situation I would join the QFF program and start accumulating QFF points. If you do 12 return flights MEL-BNE every year and book the cheapest possible flights that will be 24,000 QFF points, which is half the QFF points required for a one-way MEL-LAX + taxes and surcharges, and also enough to get you QFF Silver status which is useful for priority check-in.