June 25, 2004 -- Airfares to Australia work like this: during the low season (that's now), there's usually a $798 sale going on from Air New Zealand, Qantas or United. There's often a $748 sale. There's only occasionally a $698 sale. Right now is one of those $698 occasions, so if you're thinking of heading to Australia in late July or August, buy your tickets now.
Qantas' current $698 sale is on through Wednesday, June 30, and covers flights to Australia and New Zealand between July 24 and the end of August. You must stay in Australia between 7 days and one month, and unusually for fares thi
cheap, you can get frequent flyer miles for these flights.
The $698 fare is from LA to Sydney, Brisbane or Auckland. (Air New Zealand is matching the Auckland fare, but not the Australia rates.) Fares from other cities to Sydney, Brisbane or Auckland include:
- From San Francisco and San Jose: $830
- From San Diego and Las Vegas: $840
- From Seattle: $980
- From New York: $998(no flights to Auckland)
- From Portland, OR: $1015
- From Dallas or Denver: $1090
- From St. Louis or Chicago: $1135
- From DC, Miami or Boston: $1160
Flights to Melbourne are $100 more; flights to Cairns are $200 more.
As usual, it's up to you whether to save money by designing your own connection to Los Angeles or basking in the security of Qantas' guaranteed connections.
That $1135 Chicago fare, for instance, is essentially a $437 connection to LA - really expensive when you consider Southwest is selling $178 roundtrips between Chicago and LA right now. Similarly, the $1160 Boston/Miami fare is a $462 connection, pretty lousy when you consider America West is selling $238 roundtrips to LA from Boston and American Airlines is selling $215 roundtrips to LA from Miami.
Book this deal online at www.qantasusa.com/webDeals/192