Wow, just wow! Check these prices out for flights to the US. Air NZ has just released sale fares sub $800!
Make sure you apply code USA300 to your quote.
Valid for travel 12/06/15 to 15/09/15. Offer ends 30/04/15.
And here's the proof:
Good luck & happy travels :)
Great price, pity the AUD sucks once you're over there though…
Even at the weak exchange rate its still cheaper than here.
Nope.
Not on most stuff anymore. People fail to realise that most states will add sales tax on to prices which can be over 10%.
Some stuff is, but Apple is pretty much dollar for dollar now (as they've recently re-priced their stuff).
@watwatwat: For general retail, say for example Macy's, Gap, BB&B, eating out at restaurants (including tips and sales tax), etc., the US is without question cheaper.
Source: I spend six months a year there.
P.S. Don't get me started on the cost of movies. I got a matinee session at AMC Town Square, week of release, for $5.20!
No way. Restaurant food plus tax plus tip plus 30% more to convert to AUD? I don't know what restaurants you were visiting over there.
Even a diner like Dennys won't be cheaper.
@watwatwat: I agree. I went in Feb, spent AUD13 at shake shack, never felt so ripped off (burger was so tiny). Breakfast at Denny's cost me AUD24 (omelette and half serve drink). small HC at starbucks was a tad over AUD4.
@drewbles: Zigzactly, the hidden sales tax in most states takes what may be a decently priced item over the edge too often, unfortunately
@MelbBargainChaser77: I never said the omelette was $24.it was the meat lovers omelette. No prices on their website. THAT and a half serve milkshake AND taxes and tip was aud24.
this is why you see so many deals on the flights… when the dollar is down demand drops and they need to reduce the cost to get to a place in order to make it somewhat feasible for the traveler :)
I dont believe this deal is because of the falling dollar. Ive been to the US 3 times in the last 18 months, 2 of those flights were under $800 and the third was $960. all of these flights were before the AUD devauled so much,
@MelbBargainChaser77: there's already cheap flights with all the budget airlines around but the frequency and the number of operators who offer them increase when the $ drops and interest starts to fall in overseas travel.
Or the NZD is at parity with the AUD and AirNZ is trying to capitalise and increase their AUD assets?
stoopid is that LAX to SYD return is double that price.
See RockyRaccoon's comments, I think the reason flights are so cheap there is because the AUD has fallen so far recently.
aww no deal on one-way flight to US
Sure there is - it's $790 one way ex Melbourne
thats not normal price?
you'll find that the best way to book one way flights is with FF points
Perth return from what I can see is $1039.72 after discount, also not bad :)
What dates did you use? Cheapest I saw was ~$1400 to LAX and $1600 to SF.
August some time, there was a couple of dates there
Ah yep I see it now. Good find.
Thanks Spackbace. I've updated the post, and added a great fare that should make the Adelaideans happy.
damn credit card fee…
Card payment fee $30.00
pretty common with airlines now… even qantas charges credit card surcharge…
Just pay with Poli with nil fee.
yeh but then no complimentary credit card insurance, points, 55 day interest free etc.
why neg, i rather pay a $15 fee than have to buy separate travel insurance
Paying for your flights with a charge, credit or debit card incurs a fee of $15.00 per passenger per one way journey. This fee is not charged for bookings paid by internet banking (POLi), Travelcard or Airpoints Dollars.
just call them up saying there is an error and cant proceed. They will book it for u and waive the credit card charge…That's what i have been doing with most airlines in the past
good tip. will try nxt time if i remember lol
For once "errors" work in our favour, cheers for the tip haha
Great price!
The downside is how badly the savings are cancelled out when you're actually spending your holiday money over there… current exchange is about $1AUD = 0.75USD
:(
That's wholesale. Prob be more around 71c after fees
Get a 28 degree's CC or Bankwest Platinum and get the exact visa exchange rate with no fees.
Exactly. Norwegian Air were offering cheap flights from the U.S. but when you're spending hundreds a day the airfare isn't the expensive part anyway!
$300 saved, is $300 more to spend right?
But maybe by that time the dollar might get better?
Go to Vegas. $30 hotel rooms and cheap eats/booze FTW
Excellent price! Travel dates 8 days after when I was planning to go though.. 😞
Almost cheap enough for a long weekend trip to Disneyland :)
bah, paid $1167.50 return with VA, $300 more person than this. Hope people jump on this
Too bad AirNZ seems to have ceased their partnership with Virgin… 5 years ago I flew to LA from Adelaide for $850… No more ex Adelaide flights these days…
Im not sure what you considered the partnership to be prior but on the homepage….
"Earn Frequent Flyer Points
Airpoints members, Velocity members, members of our Star Alliance frequent flyer programmes and members of our other partner airlines’ frequent flyer programmes, may be eligible to earn frequent flyer points on these fares."
I believe Air New Zealand is listed as a Virgin Australia partner airline:
https://www.velocityfrequentflyer.com/content/Earn/Airlines/…
Anyone know any decent flight prices or a good time to check for November?
I just got back a few days ago from the states. Pretty much what everyone says above is correct about the exchange rate. I'm no tight ass, but I'm no high roller - and to be honest- most thing was the same price as what it would be here, if not more.
Amazing trip, shit exchange rate. Ah well.
Shopping for clothes, shoes etc you can still find some excellent bargains if you shop the specials/sales at Macy's. Or shop outlet locations. Dining can be quite expensive once you add in the tip. You can eat cheaply if you eat fast food though I would not recommend it. It's good to stay in place with kitchenettes so you can visit a supermarket and prepare a few of your own meals.
Anyone know how to get cashback deals or anything similar to tight arse a few extra dollars our way? :)
I flew AirNZ in Feb to LAX this year sub $750. I also got $40 airnewzealand $ as part of my air nz FF membership, and you can alos claim MYERone points with air NZ, got about $20 of those for the flight also.
I was there when the exchange rate parity .. shopping and eat out were half price compare to home (housing even more cheaper) amazing trip but not sure about now .. when the exchange rate such low ..
The party is over for Aussies, so we'll travel closer to home (SEA) in future, if not at home.
Meantime Yanks and Kiwis will be partying now since they've done the hard yards, while we get back to work.
Tourism will become the new minerals boom again, so we should be increasing the gst to capture more tax from visitors. Gst doesn't affect business.
International visitors can have their GST refunded under the Tourist Refund Scheme.
Also, the Americans are having the party in the EU.
GST from activities/meals/accomm/transport - EVERYTHING except for goods taken offshore (if they can be bothered claiming)
Oh, and the working tourists get to take their Super home too (to spend in SEA) - they should have to wait till they're 70 like the rest of us.
Lucky country - yeah, for visitors.
And don't get me started on Apple and a few Energy companies taking their profits offshore.
Even to SEA exchange rate has deteriorated.
Thanks a million OP. Was looking for a vacation for ages. $2598 return Melbourne for a family of 4 is quite good value me thinks. Now to look for places to visit and best tickets to Disneyland etc.
Any advice on this would be most appreciated.
best tickets to Disneyland
Socal pass is what I am getting - includes three day park hopper for Disney including one Magic morning (get in an hour earlier), plus single days at Universal Studios and Sea World.
I always buy this pass BUT purchase it through Universal and go to Universal first and you get an additional day in Universal so 2 days in Universal, 3 days in Disney and 1 at Seaworld!
Please can I ask what website to get the social park?
to get the extra day at universal
http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/tickets/southern-ca…
get more details here which shows different places to buy it and what 'bonus' you might get depending on where you buy it
http://www.mousesavers.com/southern-california-citypass/
with the upcoming 60th at DIsneyland I'm sure you'll have fun (we just came back from there last month)
Disneyland tickets dont vary too much in price though. Check out the boards like Dis - 'disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=26' or micechat for heaps of useful info on Disneyland
How did you get so cheap , did the kids cost less?
Yep. The kids tickets came up less.
Dam you TA!!!! So tempted again, as this is sooooo cheap, and my Flybuys points can cover accomodation, 4Queens/TheD in vegas for a week will cost less than $300!! Having almost 300k FB points now im am so tempted. What do I tell work this time!!
If you get lucky in Vegas, you may be able to tell them to shove their job :)
Ive already been twice in the last 9 months.
Bucket list for me. One day.
no comps?
thankyou sir, just booked a pair of flights~! :D:D:D
weeeeeee
Awesome work again TA!
Thats the wifes 30th present sorted. 2 return MEL-LAX for $1,579… Stoked! :)
Yay, what a lovely present! ^_^
as one that's never been to the US, i hope my question is simpler: regarding the air fare - are those prices inclusive of tax? thanks.
yes
(though having just flown that route with AirNZ, if you are on one of the 747-300ER's with a 3-4-3 configuration, you get the cramped limited room for free ;) )
lol, doesn't bother me - advantage of being short and slim? ;)
Didn't bother me much either until our daughter in the middle seat wanted to stretch out during sleeping..
But i just tried to rest easy knowing the $ i'd saved due to TA's previous AirNZ deals which prompted me to buy the tickets
Thanks for including Adelaide!
Thanks for the tip.
On Sunday, I visited Qantas.com (Chrome Incognito) and found a $1200 airfare MEL-LAX return in July, which I thought was a rather good deal ($700 depart, $500 return).
Just MINUTES later, as I was searching for other options, the airfare jumped to $1900!
Ridiculous.
Found a Virgin Australia deal for $977, MEL-LAX, return, and just went ahead and booked it.
I just checked the Air New Zealand website, and the same trip in July, after discount, is $1,500.
Now I am glad I booked what I thought was cheap enough.
Seems the Perth leg of this has ended, everything appears to be $1400+ - I was all ready to book as well! Spewing.
Flights have jumped by $700!! Damn!@#$%^
Sub $800!!
The AUD to US dollar must really be impacting flight bookings to the US for it to come down this much.
If it keeps going down like this we'll have people asking can they get off in Auckland and skip the LAX leg as it's going to be cheaper to go to NZ with one of thse flights!! :)