The bargain basement fares are due to go on sale from 8pm until midnight tonight on nine routes around the country including Sydney-Gold Coast, Adelaide-Sydney, Adelaide-Melbourne, Sydney-Whitsundays and Brisbane-Cairns.
The catch is the fares are only valid for travel in three weeks next June.
2500 Seats Available
"The catch is the fares are only valid for travel in three weeks next June."
Let me translate. The sale fares available later today will be valid for travel in June 2015 only and availability will be limited to certain dates over a three week period within the month of June.
You with me?
The other catch they don't mention is that the flights are with Tiger.
Last weekend I went from syd to Gold coast via Jetstar and return flight via Tiger. Let me say that the Jetstar flight was a complete disaster. Cancelled flight, delayed supplementatary flight, then further delays. Completely ruined our weekend away as our group of 6 adults (all male) were split between 3 different flights, all arriving several hours late of course. On the other hand, the Tiger return flight was perfect. Very professional staff, on time and no problems whatsoever.
It has left all of us with a bad taste about Jetstar and a refreshing taste about Tiger.
Although I have no recent experience (and service quality does change) I must admit I've only ever had last minute cancellations with Jetstar.
I assume any airline can be delayed 24 hrs so I avoid same day connections and dread booking hotel stays that are often nonrefundable (under 24 hrs notice).
Yep, likewise, went to Sydney with Tiger return as well, and was perfect. No delays and smooth ride all the way.
I also had dramas with Jetstar.
It has been the other way for me!
Jetstar at least puts you on the next flight if the current one is cancelled. Tiger didn't even bother to inform that the flight was cancelled, my wife realised that after she got to the airport.
And it costs around $16-18 to get to the airport by train.
So What originally cost her $65 for a flight, then cost:
$280 - Jetstar flight the next day
$18x2 = $36 - Trip to the airport and back
We're really apprehensive about flying with Tiger now!
Have flown Newcastle to Gold Coast and Sydney to Gold Coast over 10 times return and no dramas whatsoever. Must be lucky.
Stats for September 2014:
"Of the major domestic airlines, Qantas achieved the highest level of on time departures for September 2014 at 89.5 per cent, followed by Virgin Australia at 87.1 per cent, Jetstar at 85.0 per cent and Tigerair at 75.8 per cent. "
So they're all in the high 80s except Tiger lags behind at 75.8%…
Source:
https://www.bitre.gov.au/statistics/aviation/otp_month.aspx
Virgin Australia had the highest percentage of cancellations (1.7 per cent) during the month, followed by Qantas (1.4 per cent), QantasLink (1.2 per cent), Jetstar (1.1 per cent), Tigerair (also 1.1 per cent), Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (0.6 per cent) and Regional Express (0.1 per cent).
@andy19363: Do you reckon Regional Express just cancelled one flight so they could have their name mentioned in these stats?
"Ms Regan said they were confident their systems were now robust enough to handle the flood of interest expected on Halloween night."
… haha, OzBargainers will see to that !!
Has anyone ever tried buying the fares at full price, before the sale starts, and using their credit card's "price drop insurance" to get the discount rate?
I haven't used price-drop insurance before, I am assuming it can be used for airfares.
afraid it cannot
You mean like GE Money (eg. 28 Degrees/Coles) Price Protection? It does not apply to services.
Get jetstar to price match and save 10% + cc fee
Not sure if Jetstar's call centre could handle the call volume. :P
Price beat bookings have to be done by live chat now, no hold music at least.
Any tips for booking with Tiger? Do they charge extra for baggage?
yes.
do a dummy booking now to go through the process. Abort before you pay.
How? That's a 2-for-1 offer, and it's expired.
Thanks glitch. Let's hope Tiger's server holds up :)
The bargain basement fares are due to go on sale from 8pm until midnight tonight on nine routes around the country including Sydney-Gold Coast, Adelaide-Sydney, Adelaide-Melbourne, Sydney-Whitsundays and Brisbane-Cairns.
The catch is the fares are only valid for travel in three weeks next June.
Might be good for a few but disappointing destination choices for me.
Poor time to go Gold Coast.
Not sure about Tiger, but it'll definitely crash the Jetstar website (price beat guarantee)!
How does the price beat guarantee work when you need to provide a web link to the fare for comparison …. I've found if you dilly for more than a few seconds when booking, the cheap tix are all gone!
call Jetstar and price beat by 10%
Do you have to provide them with the Jetstar alternative flights? or will they select them?
Their deal says for domestic that the Jetstar flight must leave within 1 hour either side of the compared flight.
Ah, answered my own question in the end
http://blog.ozbargain.com.au/2012/how-to-pricematch-a-jetsta…
You can't call them anymore, it's done on their live chat. http://www.jetstar.com/au/en/what-we-offer/our-guarantees/pr…
But will people be charged phone or "online chat" booking fee even for a price match?
I heard phone booking fee is $40?? Believe this is on top of $8.50 booking fee with non Mastercard-issued card.
Ten percent of $13 is $1.3 and if phone booking and other fees are levied then does not really justify the price match
Anyone has info on phone/online chat and any other booking fees?
You don't get boooking fees (or credit card fees) for price beat bookings.
And FYI - the Mastercard debit is Jetstar's fee-free booking option. Jetstar offers fee-free booking for their own Mastercard, or for bank transfers.
You have to always keep your backup debit Mastercard loaded for moments like these…
We should have a competition for who can predict the date when drip-pricing actually ceases to exist in Australia - if it ever happens at all.
The special airfares only apply to 'thousands of seats' between June 2 and June 24, 2015:
Adelaide – Melbourne
Hobart – Melbourne
Melbourne – Mackay
Gold Coast – Sydney
Adelaide – Brisbane
Adelaide – Sydney
Sydney – Whitsunday Coast
Brisbane – Cairns
Brisbane – Darwin
from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2815004/TigerAir-sel…
Not sure how legit, seems consistent with other articles.
This might be a silly question but if I want to fly Adelaide to Brisbane - I have to book with another airline on the return flight and/or pay the normal fare on the return?
Not a silly question! I was wondering the same thing.
Can't really tell for sure until the sale tonight. 'Routes' implies that there could be cheap flights both ways. However, given only 2,500 seats are available for 9 routes in a period of 22 days, the possibility of getting $26 return seems slim.
It's not uncommon for these bargain prices to be in one direction only, I checked Darwin to Brisbane and I think it was $87 as the standard low price with tiger, so if I managed $13 there, $87 back it's still $100 (plus bags $20.50 each way) and the ubiquitous booking fee.
Jetstar price beat on $141 = $126.90 which is pretty damn good.
Being Tiger, this may be more 'Trick' than 'Treat.
Perth seems to miss out on all the good Tiger sales these days… I flew to Melbourne for $20 return last year but since then the prices have just been normal.
I want a $13 ticket to Sydney!
And Tiger are ceasing the PER-SIN route from the end of February. Jetstar and Scoot have killed Tiger over here.
That's the equivalent of a Sydneysider wanting to fly to Bali for a fraction of the cost of the taxes!
Yes, yes it is!
2500 seats, spread over 22 days and spread over 9(X 2 return?) routes which each might have 3 flights/day ….good luck getting THE seat!
that's starting to sound like how many (few) deals are available on COTD Sales!
My only concern is with all this talk of Tiger being sold for $1, maybe there is a chance they might wind up the company before you get your flight. But for $13, it is probably worth a risk.
Surely a Virgin (http://www.businessinsider.com.au/afp-virgin-takes-full-cont…) wouldn't be this sinful? Badum-tish! ♬♬
The catch is they will cancel or adjust your flight times and make all of your plans redundant
Seriously nothing for good ol' perth!
looks like only Tue and Wed flights :(
I got a sunday flight!
$93 return for 2 ppl brisbane to cairns
AWESOME :D
that's not $13ea, should have been $52 so maybe you only got one way for $13
added on luggage for 1 person both ways which was the difference
Yeah likewise, got ool - syd return, 4 blokes. $104 booking process was smooth even on the mobile website
Thanks Glitch, got mine, only got the trip from SYD - Goldcoast for $13 each (using debit card), decide later on when to come back and wait for a good price on the return.
$52 return for 2 people ADL>SYD. Except I got slugged $86 on the payment confirmation page. Calling them now to remove the 4x $8.50 booking fees despite selecting Mastercard Debit……… why am I dealing with this company again??
Edit: They want me to email them a photo of my credit card……. ummm…. no thanks. Lesson learnt. Again.
$78 3 tickets!!!!! whitsunday i am coming!!!!!!
Haha, looks like it's 8pm local time.
Qld is an hour behind - not sure if it will be sold out in the next half hour?
Edit - deal is showing up on the front page :P I thought the linked page will change at 8pm.
I refreshed selected flights at 8pm EST and the new prices appeared over the normal prices.
And as always, the mobile website version is faster.
Cheers mate, good $13 spent! Hey Mackay, I'm coming your way … but still need to find a return flight.
Been trying since 8:00 pm couldnt get a $13 flight
Thanks OP - gave Jet Star a call and they price beat return flights from Syd to the GC, nice way to save on booking fee :-)
Scored 4 return tickets Melbourne-Mackay (Saturday - Tuesday) in June.
$104 total
Thanks!
I got 3 people melb - mackay return, going with the kid so chose to pay $18 e/w to chose seats. Hey, $114 return ain't bad!!
Maybe we should have a Melbourne Ozbargainers get together in Mackay
See you all there.
Got 4 tickets for 7 days during Queens B'Day long weekend.
Originally had 9 days but when I entered c/c details it errored with flights no longer available (not quick enough).
Another 2 tickets here Melbourne - Mackay for 7 days over Queens B'day :-)
Guys use the mobile app. Fast and easy
bounceybouncey
SO I cant seem to find any flights to / from Sydney - am I too late or doing something very silly?
too late mate. all tickets gone within 5 minutes
Of course!
Look - if these fool airlines are gonna throw sillybugger fares at me, well, then I'm just gonna hafta buy them!