April 24, 2004 -- Australia's winter means cool prices for U.S. visitors, whether it's $749 airfares from the West Coast or $1,099 air-and-hotel packages.
Couples departing from a wide range of West Coast gateways can get 5-night holidays in Sydney or Melbourne for $1,099 per person, flying on United or Hawaiian Airlines. Eight-night holidays from United, Qantas and Pleasant Holidays start at $1,299 per person.
Assuming an average $900 per person airfare from the West Coast, the five-night packages make hotels around $80 per room, per night. That's pretty decent for three-star hotels in Sydney and Melbourne, which are both typically pretty expensive cities to stay in. As the airfares you can find go up, of course, your effective hotel savings grows.
Everybody the nation 'round can enjoy the United Airlines holidays (www.australia.com/united). They combine flights from any United city in California, Arizona or Nevada with five days in Sydney or Melbourne for $1,099 per person, double occupancy. You can fly any time between now and Sept. 30, as long as you depart for Australia on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. Add-on prices include:
- Thursday-Sunday flights: $35 per person each way
- Flights from Washington and Oregon: $60 more per person roundtrip
- Flights from the East Coast: $180 more per person roundtrip
- Flights from everywhere else in the US except Hawaii: $120 more per person roundtrip
- Four nights in Sydney, four nights in Melbourne for a total of eight nights: $200 more
- Four nights in Sydney, four in Melbourne, four in Cairns for a total of 12: $800 more
The Hawaiian Airlines holidays (www.australia.com/hawaiianair) depart from LA, San Francisco, Sacramento, Seattle, San Diego, Portland, Las Vegas or Phoenix on Mondays-Wednesdays, offering a three-star hotel for $1,099 between May 19 and June 17, and between July 19 and November 18. The packages are full of possible add-ons -- some you might want if you're not the ultimate budget travelers include:
- Thursday-Sunday flights: $35 per person each way
- 4-star hotel: $200 per person more
- 5-star hotel: $400 per person more
- Add four nights in Melbourne, with city tour and river cruise: $759 per person
- Add six days of car rental and 5 nights hotel in the Blue Mountains and Hunter Valley wine country: $499 per person
- Add four nights in the Outback including Ayers Rock: $1,499 per person (that one's a little harsh)
If five nights is too few -- and come on, you're flying 15 hours across the Pacific for five nights? -- veteran packager Pleasant Holidays and Australian airline Qantas are also offering deals from LA. They have add-on fares from other cities, but many of the add-ons are high enough that you may want to arrange your own transportation to LA if you use these packages -- Qantas is charging $395 more for New York departures, for instance, and that's just absurd.
The better deal of the two is from Pleasant Holidays -- click here for the details page. They'll ship you out from LA for eight nights to Sydney and Melbourne or Sydney and Brisbane through June 19 for prices starting at $1,299 per person. The accommodations are barely above motel level, but you get weekend flights. Pairing Sydney and Cairns, or Sydney and Adelaide costs $200 more.
Qantas' $1,299 packages (www.australia.com/qantas) to Sydney and Brisbane or Sydney and Melbourne require Monday-Wednesday flights through June 19, or from July 21 to August 28. Weekend roundtrips are $70 more per person, and you pay $200 more to do Sydney and Cairns. Both Qantas and Pleasant Holidays have long lists of add-ons for everything from self-drive segments to trips to the Outback, so check out and compare their Web sites if you're interested.
Read what fellow Frommerphiles are saying on our Australia Message Boards.