h31per

Hi,

We're getting in a bit of a stew with flights to/from/within Australia, and would appreciate any help that you guys can provide.

1) We're trying to arrange for family to come to Australia for Christmas 2011, but are struggling to understand why a return flight from London to Perth (£900) is cheaper than a flight from London to Sydney (£1200), especially when we consider how much we recently paid for an internal return flight from Perth to Sydney ($500/£300).

* Anyone know why?
* Would it be possible for our family to book a flight to Perth but get off in Sydney, and then catch the flight back to the UK from Sydney? I'm sure the answer is no, but we'll try anything to save £600...

2) We have more family coming out to Oz next Easter where we will be flying with them to a few different places around the country, so we will be booking a number of internal flights.

* Hypothetically speaking, if we book a return internal flight, but end up not needing to use the return journey, do we need to cancel that leg of the trip, or can we just not turn up? If the flight is non-transferable we wouldn't be able to make any changes to the flight (i.e. cancel it), so would forfeit the cost of that journey. I guess what I'm asking is, are there any fines associated with not turning up?

Many thanks, Simon

Bermudashorts

What?

How do you get off a London to Perth flight in Sydney. It's not a bus. Also if you are going the usual way around the world a flight to Perth would not pass Sydney even if you did want to parachute off.


You don't get fined for not turning up for a flight. But if you book an internal flight and don't take the outbound leg (but get to the destination another way) then the return leg will usually be cancelled.

Pollyana

London to Perth (via the Far East at least) is shorter than London to Sydney, thus cheaper
Domestic prices are generally quite high here - only a couple of airlines and they can charge what they like cos they know people have to pay it whether they like it or not.
How about booking a flight with the incoming leg from the UK into Perth, then a domestic flight Perth-Sydney, then the return to the UK flying to of Sydney, very common to flight into one international airport then out of another

Shenni

You are looking way too early .... leave it for another two months and you should notice the xmas specials but xmas is prices are known for being higher than normal prices, if your family can come out at the end of November and stay until xmas it can work out cheaper. Also the flight re London Perth is shorter than london sydney so therefore the cheaper prices.

Centurion

If you'll do anything then Air China fly you LHR to SYD return for 838 pounds over Christmas. Not quite my airline of choice but better then 1200.

As to the first part of your question. Go look at a map. Find Perth and then look 2000 miles east where Sydney is. That's why

h31per

Ha! What an idiot! Foolishly, I thought the flight stopped in Sydney before heading onto Perth...

Good idea, will check that now.

Thanks, we wont book anything for a couple of months then Gotta love a bargain!

EvannTel

Not true. Fares change all the time depending on supply. If you are serious about Xmas and are ready to book now then check a couple of times a week. When the fares are ones you're happy with buy away. There is never a guarantee fares will go up or down over time.

Bermudashorts

Agree. I would also recommend this approach. Prices will fluctuate for the next few months and then nearer the time they will only go up.

h31per

Thanks guys

mvagusta

Try booking before the 9th Dec for your outward flight and return after 3rd January.

By doing the above you miss the Christmas price hikes. People booking for Christmas normally start to book around 6 months in advance. We tried to book last year with 3 months to go and we were told it was a late booking for xmas.

Wol

Or fly Christmas day - I used to do that all the time and the flights were pretty empty. Don't know if that's reflected in the price, though.

h31per

Yeah we've tried that, but the 9th really is the earliest date that our family could fly over because of being able to get time off work (they work in a school). Likewise, returning after the 1st or 2nd isn't really feasible either...

Good idea though. We need to see if they can get more time off...

Yes, the prices are cheaper, but unless they only came for a week (or two at the most), it wouldn't work with their work commitments. That and they wouldn't get here until well after Christmas...

bcworld

Xmas specials? What Xmas specials?

If you want to travel at Xmas just get it booked. Some prime flights will be sold out months in advance with people waitlisted for seats.

Can't see post Dec 10th fares dropping - you do see the odd anomaly on the odd day.