If I search for a one-way ticket from Sydney to London on 31st July, skyscanner shows me a result of $610 through lots of resellers flying on virgin australia/galactic.
However, if I search on virginaustralia.com.au for the same flight, I can't find anything cheaper than $1200.
What does this $600 fare signify and is it a scam?
Why doesn't the fare appear on virgin website at all?
If I was ok with the transit length, how should I book this fare? Try my luck at picking the least dodgy sounding 3rd party off skyscanner?
Skyscanner offers bookings via Jetabroad.
You could look at: 10% off
https://www.etihad.com/en/exclusive-deals/amex-offer/
if you have Amex?
In my experience, they don't show 'wrong way round' fares (e.g. SYD to JFK via AUH) when they or their partners have a more direct route (in this instance via LAX with Delta).
The 'cheap' journey is over 33hrs of flying and transiting. SYD-LHR should take no more than 24 hrs when you're on a good connection (usually through Asia or the Middle East).
I think it is as simple as this….The supplier never matches or undercuts his distribution network.
Virgin are the suppliers.
Sites like webjet, skiddoo, expedia that are aggregated by SkyScanner are the distribution network of Virgin. Virgin agrees with them to let them sell tickets at a good price and pays them accordingly. The other side of the agreement is that Virgin whilst is still able to sell their own tickets cannot do so at those discounted rates.
A few more reasons:
If you can find the same fare on 2 different websites, it's probably legitimate. Just buy from the more reputable website and watch out for credit card fees.
I always find cheaper fares through search engines like skyscanner than going direct to the airline
The "cheap" fare is longer to get there with a long 9h40m connection @ LAX as opposed to the Virgin Australia (Etihad/Etihad Flight) via AUH with a 2h30m connection.