Whirlpool

Hey does anyone know where I can purchase international air ticket online at a cheap price? Not the student travel thing though, I'm not a student. STA travel doesn't look very cheap at all which I originally thought was the cheapest around.

www.webjet.com.au

www.flightcentre.com.au

both claim to be the cheapest.

Captain Obvious writes...

www.webjet.com.au

www.flightcentre.com.au

both claim to be the cheapest.

cheers. I forgot to mention I checked these two out as well. The price from flightcentre.com.au when I last bought tickets at the real shop have +++ added onto the internet price which came up much higher than what the site claimed.

I troll for flights at those two first then I call the airline direct - it's ALWAYS cheaper to call direct.

Agents all get a fee.

i'm a travel agent, working for FC, and let me tell you it all depends on when you want to go.

Christmas is bad. There are close to no seats at all on alot of planes leaving Australia the week before christmas.

Pick some dates, then call around. Travel agents will usually match prices, and are usually close to the same for the same exact airfare (eg Sydney-London on Thai airways). The factor that will affect the price you get quoted is how busy it is at the time you want to travel, how long your ticket needs to be valid for, and how flexible you are with your dates.

hope that helps

you should also try www.bestflights.com.au, www.zuji.com.au and www.travel.com.au, all of which have live booking online. Flight Centre does not.

Good luck and have a great trip

Ive found www.bestflights.com.au as mentioned above to be the best new comer!

Some good deals in their newsletters that aren't on the website.

Have booked two trips through them without hassle.
And they were the cheapest by about $200

cheers all. I have never booked a flight via the net before, have always booked in person after having a rough browse on the net.

I was looking at zuji.com.au and they have this list of airline with amazingly low prices after selecting the flexible dates option but with conditions listed. What does these conditions mean (Latest travel, latest return)???

----------------------------------­ ------------------------
Emirates Airlines

Conditions Latest Travel: 15/12/06
Latest Return: 3 month
----------------------------------­ -------------------------

Some airline only listed down the condition as etc;

Lastest return: 12 months

What does it mean?

Wildly Domesticated writes...

Latest Return: 3 month

You have to take your return flight within 3 months of your outgoing flight. Latest travel is latest time to start your first last flight. After the 15th is the christmas season, prices go up a lot.

have never booked a flight via the net before, have always booked in person after having a rough browse on the net.

If you get worried, you can always call their call centre.

I was looking at zuji.com.au and they have this list of airline with amazingly low prices after selecting the flexible dates option

The flexible dates option finds the cheapest fare within that month, so you have to be flexible with your departure date, or you can plan your holiday around the best fare it finds.

www.zuji.com.au

I booked one of the last, cheap flights (to Johannesburg in my case) for November, the high seasons is taking over quickly, most flights go up by $1000 for December (that's if there are seats left).

I suggest you just look through until you find something, and secure it, quickly.

Where are you looking at going to would be the first question? Depending on the answer there's a whole bunch of sites where you can pick up cheap flights - not necessarily Australian ones - as it can be cheaper to buy from one of the international ones in the local currency.

Its also quite often a heck of a lot cheaper to get stuff for other countries from some of the local bargain sites. UK would be a good example. You want car hire over there - go get it through one of the domestic uk sites - stuff like Edinburgh to London car hire for £10 (about £140 cheaper than you'll pay on a train)

My mates and I are flying overseas in a couple of weeks. We booked tickets 3 months ago, three used a travel agent (inc me) and 2 used webjet. I payed $1400 (inc tax/charges etc) to travel to japan via malaysia. The two other people booked on webjet and paid $1700 (inc tax/charges etc) to japan via sydney. They save 3 hours on travel and paid $300 more. I found my exact flight on webjet (albeit 2 weeks later) and it would have been $1800. I will never use webjet.

batless writes...

Its also quite often a heck of a lot cheaper to get stuff for other countries from some of the local bargain sites. UK would be a good example. You want car hire over there - go get it through one of the domestic uk sites - stuff like Edinburgh to London car hire for £10 (about £140 cheaper than you'll pay on a train)

Cheers again to all for the helpful posts :)

We're looking at a few locations but Singapore might be the prominent choice.
How do you book flight though local sites that you're going to? Wouldn't their flight be from the local country to Australia and back, not the other way round? So you mean I could book a flight through one of the local Singapore sites? How does that work?

:-) singapore would be in one of my most cant help you there as know zip about singapore categories - apologies.

But otherwise - yes is the answer to your question. So you can go to expedia.co.uk and book a flight from sydney to uk return. I cant comment on whether any particular flight is going to be cheaper but its a trick worth a look.

You can also get cash back on bookings through webjet in Oz and a bunch of the UK and US travel sites but its usually a pretty low offer on flights - soemthing like 1/2% or 1% on the total booking.

I was a bit dubious but you can book through expedia.co.uk - perth - london
I want to check if it is cheaper now

I'm in the UK atm and it is almost always cheaper to by a flight in USD than in Pounds, same flight numbers everything.

I just checked prices for my one way ticket from Perth to Houston and have the following to report:

www.bestflights.com.au gave me stupid connections and were not cheap

www.harveyworldtravel.com.au gave me a cheap price and sensible connections.

www.travel.com.au came in $70 cheaper than HWT, but had less options in flights

Zuji couldn't give me any flights at all!

Hey fellas

thanks for the help. The destination is decided and its Singapore but the issue now is that there doesn't seem to have any flight available/left for late Dec or Early Jan!!!

Could anyone help? I have posted a new thread here forum-replies.cfm?t=628137#bottom

cheers!

sir_hc writes...

The two other people booked on webjet and paid $1700 (inc tax/charges etc) to japan via sydney.

That's crazy, you paid that much to get to Japan? it should be more like $1200..

I have flown to athens twice in the past 3 years and the online websites are way way more expensive than what i can get from my travel agent.

For example i wanted to go to athens before the olympics where on. everything booked to the hilt.paid back then 2150 dollars.Online, over 2700 and even had a silly offer from an airline to pay full price of 4400 for economy seat!.

this year something similar but the online folks are getting a bit more competitive, still saved over 250 dollars a ticket going to my travel agent.

The only thing you can get cheaper on the net is accommodation, unless your travel agent has a special deal going.(and cheaper still if you ring them direct, usually they throw a few extras in even if they dont lower the price).

I would be looking on the net as a rough guide of what you have to pay and then getting on the phone and calling them(the agents) direct.

Also look out for early bird flights by the big airlines. you have to pay in advance not so flexible but you save hundreds of dollars....

mixo

TRS writes...

I booked one of the last, cheap flights (to Johannesburg in my case) for November, the high seasons is taking over quickly, most flights go up by $1000 for December (that's if there are seats left).

May i loudly curse you? I just booked my tickets to Johannesburg for the 29th December and the price nearly made me cry :(

Michael Davis writes...

I just booked my tickets to Johannesburg for the 29th December and the price nearly made me cry :(

haha, I'm glad I got mine while they were cheap, only $1960, a few days later I was quoted arond $2900.

but mine returns 29th Dec, so I guess it's always the departure date that costs

TRS writes...

a few days later I was quoted arond $2900.

i ended up getting it for about $2400, returning in the middle of Jan.

November wouldn't have been a good time for me to travel anyway, it's easier for me to get leave during the Telstra Network Embargo.

Got a flight, not the preferred date but better than nothing. About the same price as a direct flight offseason so can't complain much! Its after xmas and abit after new years too, so i guess thats counted as offseason flight as well LOL

TRS writes...

haha, I'm glad I got mine while they were cheap, only $1960, a few days later I was quoted arond $2900.

Holycrap! The difference between $2900 and $1960 is ridiculous!!!!

I used bestflights and picked up a return trip to London in June/July this year for $1960 including taxes.

I will be flying over again to europe next year, and will try a travel agent to see what price i get this time.

Hi,
Not sure if this place does international flights or not but its suppose to find the cheapest flights available.

iwantthatflight.com.au

cheers

ozzymac writes...

Not sure if this place does international flights or not but its suppose to find the cheapest flights available.

Domestic only.

PaintedCats writes...

I used bestflights and picked up a return trip to London in June/July this year for $1960 including taxes.

Flight centre has that for about $1500 atm.

I found booking straight from airlines sites the best,no middle man and you can choose seat and meal.

TRS writes...

That's crazy, you paid that much to get to Japan? it should be more like $1200..

that's $1700 including taxes and charges flying 3 weeks before christmas. Unfortunately I can't link you, but if you do a search on webjet, you'll see. Melbourne to Narita (Tokyo) $1695.55 flying Qantas.

Hi all,

I would recommend www.expedia.com.au . This is the recent local version of the popular American expedia.com .

They will search most airlines and provide you with the cheapest options.

If you can be bothered, use a site such as this to find the best fare then go to the actual airlines website to book it.

For example, I got an Auckland to Sydney one way for $165 (all inclusive).

Someone once posted a link, with a travel agents portal for flight connectiosn and bookings. I can't remember what it was called, but it was very useful, for comparisons.

Bestflights.com.au have been around for ages, and have been the cheapest all times I've wanted to travel OS in the past 3 years. The other time webjet.com.au was cheapest.

i leave thursday for frankfurt, ticket was $2100 inc on Singapore.. searched everywhere then got travel agent to beat it

batless writes...

stuff like Edinburgh to London car hire for £10 (about £140 cheaper than you'll pay on a train)

What sites have you seen those sort of deals on? I'd be very interested in something like that...

Wildly Domesticated writes...

How do you book flight though local sites that you're going to? Wouldn't their flight be from the local country to Australia and back, not the other way round? So you mean I could book a flight through one of the local Singapore sites? How does that work?

If you can pick up a cheap domestic flight to Darwin, then you might want to look at Tiger Airways for the Darwin-Singapore leg.

www.tigerairways.com

If I'm not mistaken, Tiger is to Singapore Airlines as Jetstar is to Qantas (if that makes sense).

I would be very careful using WebJet. Especially if you are not very flexible with your dates. I recently had a bad experience where I booked a flight online and they called me the next day telling me they couldnt confirm my ticket. I must admit they offered to change the airline i had wanted to fly with to another one, but for personal reasons, I didnt want to fly with another airline.

I would use online service to get best possible quote, then take into Flight Centre who will beat the price and be able to confirm with you on the spot if they can or cant confirm your seats.

I am afraid there is no short cut. No one site offers the best fare all the time.

This might be useful, lists every flight, everywhere

www.amadeus.net

It is the system that all airlines and travel agents use for res, useful for finding a flight schedule.

a relative of mine was looking on a sunday night (about two weeks ago) and it was $1700 to Johannesburg, then by tuesday the price was $2500.

A few of the websites we use are www.webjet.com.au, www.zuji.com
but i haven't seen this one mentioned which is really helpful for last minute bookings.
www.lastminute.com.au

we maintain a good list of the AU, US and UK online guys on our site. lastminute accomodation, expedia, opodo, webjet, blah blah if anyone needs a collated list. We dont have everyone but most of the biggies (and slowly adding more). The thing to getting a good value deal out of them is often down to knowing the tricks and the way they list. Priceline is a good example. If you know the techniques to getting around the 'one chance per 24 hours' you can usually get a bargain hotel room everytime. Same with flights, except they're harder as the margins are really tight on the sales end.

I just tried searching at zuji.com.au but nothing happened. It said it is searching for flights and stayed that way for like 10 minutes.

natrap writes...

I just tried searching at zuji.com.au but nothing happened. It said it is searching for flights and stayed that way for like 10 minutes.

Seems to be fine now!

the zuji site seems very prone to crashing.

Most importantly if your booking on the web make sure you get Travel Insurance as well in case something happens. Some countries may not offer the best medical assistance without insurance. Shop around for it, you can get it from insurance agencies, health funds and places like the NRMA/RAA etc

Voldo writes...

Most importantly if your booking on the web make sure you get Travel Insurance as well in case something happens. Some countries may not offer the best medical assistance without insurance. Shop around for it, you can get it from insurance agencies, health funds and places like the NRMA/RAA etc

You can also get it online and if you shop around even more some of the vendors like world nomads, 1Cover, globetrekkers, columbus, xlife and travel insurance direct will give you up to 7.5% rebate on whever policy you take out.

Alternatively get a Citibank Gold Visa card and get free travel insurance when you pay for your airfare using the credit card. I imagine some others might offer the same thing too.

natrap writes...

get a Citibank Gold Visa card and get free travel insurance

The catch is most places charge you 2-5% extra for using credit cards. If the flight was $1500. That's up to $75 extra in fees. If you shop around, travel insurance would cost around that much.

So it's not really free. but at least you'll earn reward points

pongie writes...

So it's not really free.

Plus the annual fee of $119 (making $194), so not really much use for a one-off trip, particularly if you already have one that you're happy with.

I use zuji.com.au for booking international domestic flights (Los Angeles --> Boston for $198 AU). For any other flight e.g. International or Domestic Australia i use zuji or webjet to search the flights and then go to the individual companies website (qantas.com.au , virginblue.com.au, rex.com.au etc) and find there are even cheaper if you are specific in which flight you want.

Also, i saved $800, travelling to Los Anegles earlier this year simply by leaving a day early. Watch the peak times.

manfred writes...

Plus the annual fee of $119 (making $194), so not really much use for a one-off trip, particularly if you already have one that you're happy with.

No annual fee - at least not for my father whose account it is. And travel insurance will usually cost more than $75 - certainly for 2 months travel anyway.

www.zuji.com.au has usually been the cheapest for me

always a good idea to keep an eye out for bargains - i've signed up for emails from a few web sites

if ya travellign to asia sometimes it's cheaper to fly to singapore then buy a flight with a budget airline - tiger airways, air asia, jetstar asia etc.

natrap writes...

No annual fee - at least not for my father whose account it is.

Well, according to their web site, which is the standard way for most readers here there is a fee. If you have a particular situation that gets you a discount, then you're better off, but that applies whatever the discount is for, which might be travel insurance for somebody else. There was no sign of the annual fee being waived to the general public.

www.citibank.com.au/AUGC...t/cards_gold.htm

I'm also looking for cheap tickets, I found some good prices on www.cabletravel.com and a few others for reasonable prices but hope to get lower. I want to go to Berlin around Dec 21 unto mid Jan departing Sydney. It looks like I might have to go to Frankfurt and then get a train to Berlin as all the flights there seemed booked out or are very expensive. I'm going to check out some of the links posted here now...

On Friday I booked my return flight from Sydney to LA (via Auckland) on 1 March 2007 on travel.com.au with Air NZ for $1507 inc taxes/charges. I got an today saying that the taxes had been quoted incorrectly and are in fact $180 more.

The taxes/charges had been quoted at $235 which did seem to be lower than most other quotes, however I got the exact same quote from lastminute.com.au so I certainly didn't think it was an error.

Anyway, I called travel.com.au to inquire about the extra taxes and they called me back a couple of hours later and said (without me even asking) that they will waive/cover the extra $180.

Just thought I'd share my pleasant experience.

i bought tickets to thailand (return) for $375!!!
during the jetstar special

funny thing is.. I cant even use them :( Ive just bought a house..... oh and before you ask if you can have them dont bother.... by the time the name is transfered into someone elses it ends up being the current price of a ticket... something like 1,300

Go to zuji .com get your quote printed. Take it to a real store and get them to price match :)

I've always found my travel agent to be cheaper than the net.........and i don't know why...........zzzzzzzzzz

I found a number of tickets on these sites but whenever I tried to book them i got errors saying they were having issues. i then called the ph numbers and they said the internet tickets are not actually available even if they say they are.. seems pretty weird...

Zuji are actually giving away a business class trip to London at the moment.

Not a bad way to get a free trip overseas, not a bad way to get new members either.