Flighthacker

Nope, you don't get ants like these in Sydney. Credit: Flickr user vtveen

Tiger Airways has gone a little wild during the month of February, offering $20 flights between Sydney – Adelaide and Adelaide – Alice Springs. This means that if you line up your flights (departing Sydney on Tuesday or Saturday, then returning the following Wednesday), you can fly from Sydney to Alice Springs for only $80 return, inclusive of taxes! If you’ve ever tried booking a holiday to the red centre, you will know that fares for this route can easily cost $700 – $800 with Qantas. No wonder that Australians don’t visit their own backyard…

You can find details for these sale fares on Tiger Airways’ sale page. Dates for the Adelaide – Alice Springs legs are also searchable on Adioso. Sale is on for departures in February only and also includes other awesome fares ex. Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Get crawling!

Tiger Airways' extends its $28 fares until March, 2010!

Great news for those wanting to plan their domestic travel for the months ahead – Tiger Airways have extended the travel dates for their special $28 fares between Melbourne, Sydney, Launceston, Adelaide, Hobart and Canberra until 27 March, 2010. Even better news is that there are still affordable fares to the Tour Down Under in Adelaide on 17 January, 2010 (starting from $48 one-way). So if you’re still planning on cheering on Cadel Evans and Lance Armstrong, it’s not too late to take a punt.

Important Note: Due to the recent catastrophe in the Philippines caused by Typhoon Ondoy, Tiger Airways’ call centre is currently out of action. Please visit Tiger Airways’ advisory for the latest on this situation.

Sale is on now until 5 October, for travel between 6 October and 27 March, 2010. Visit Tiger Airways’ sale page for details and hop to!

Tiger Airways goes tax-only: $26 Sydney - Melbourne fares!

Tiger Airways has once more scratched down their fares, announcing yet more $26 (‘tax-only’) flights between Sydney and Melbourne, as well as pretty cheap fares for the rest of their Australian network. Perth folks rejoice – the usual sub-$200 international fares are still in full effect, with Tiger touting $139 fares to Singapore, $166 to Kuala Lumpur and loads more Asian destinations for a similar price point. All fares listed are one-way and include taxes.

Check Adioso for dates and fare availability on the following routes:

• Sydney – Melbourne: http://adioso.com/au/sydney-to-melbourne.html
• Perth – International: http://adioso.com/au/perth-to-international.html

Perth friends: Please note that it may be cheaper to fly from Perth to Kuala Lumpur via AirAsia to get out of the country, as they’re on sale, too.

Sale is on now until Monday, 7th September, for travel between 6 October – 30 November, 2009 (Sydney – Melbourne) and various dates ex Perth. Check Tiger Airways’ sale page for the full list of sale fares and pounce to!

Tiger Airways pounces on the competition. Photo Credit: Alan Chia

Tiger Airways’ sales are so enduring, that I’m very much skeptical that they vend anything but ‘sale’ fares. Extending this thread is their ‘Magic Deals’ sale, with domestic fares starting from a sublime $28 inclusive.

This is a fab sale if you’re seeking fares departing Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth – for example, flights to Sydney from both Melbourne and Adelaide are only $39! For those lucky enough to be in Perth, this sale extends to international destinations, with Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Bangkok selling for under $200 one way inclusive. Sale is on now until 29 August, for travel between 13 October to 10 December.

Check out Tiger Airways sale fares and details. Get on the prowl for great fares!

Tiger Airways have launched a ‘tax only’ (ie. no fare, only airport fees and taxes) seat sale, with a release of 30,000 seats across their Australian network at very friendly prices. The catch – sale fares are for Tuesdays and Wednesdays, being the “cheap” airfare days for good reason. Sale is on now until 27 July or until sold out, for departures from 13 October 2009 to 27 March 2010.

That said, we all thought the $39 Sydney – Melbourne fares were already crazy, so they’re even harder to overlook at $25. I think these ‘tax only’ sales are a great development on the heels of Tiger Airways’ and AirAsia’s rediculous Asian fare sales and will hopefully lead to cheaper international links, too. Not that my travel agent friends want to hear that.

Check out Adioso for choice Tuesday/Wednesday/Saturday fares, plus Tiger Airways sale page for details and to book.

Update (24/07/09): Fares are also available on Saturdays, too. Check the Adioso link above for departures. Nice!

Don't be sheepish, flock to New Zealand. Photo Credit: vtveen

Hot on the heels of Air New Zealand’s sale, Qantas is offering fares from Australian cities to Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland from $199 one way, $362 return including tax. Sale is on until midnight, Thursday, 20th July, for travel during 08 August to 25 September 2009, 12 October to 15 December 2009 & 27 January to 31 March 2010.

This is awesome value as Qantas’ fares are roughly the same as Jetstar’s on the Sydney to Christchurch route, for a full-service flight (including a minimum earn of 1,000 Qantas Frequent Flyer points). Please note that this sale originated in New Zealand, so you will have to switch the “From:” and “To:” locations to depart from Australia.

Visit Qantas’ sale page for details and to book.

A short and sweet one from Tiger Airways today – fares between the Gold Coast and Melbourne and the Gold Coast and Adelaide are only $58 including tax. So far I can see Gold Coast – Melbourne fares in October on Adioso, but check back later – there may be more to come. Sale is on until Wednesday, 23 July, or until sold out.

View Tiger’s sale page for details and Adioso to find choice fares. C’mon, get yourself out of the cold!

Don’t forget: ‘Airways’ Episode 2 screens tonight (Tuesday) at 7:30pm, Channel 7. More placid babies and wailing parents? That’s entertainment!

Snippet from the newsdesk: Tiger Airways has doubled their frequency on their Sydney – Melbourne route to 9 times daily, up from the initial 4 flights a day in each direction. Tiger also plan to double their Sydney – Adelaide frequency from daily to twice-daily. From TravelToday:

Roberts said the carrier had gained extra slots due to other airlines cutting services. With a new A320 also in operation, Roberts said Tiger was able to expand its presence on the trunk route.

First of all, who died? Who cut back services on the world’s third-busiest route, thus giving Tiger these extra slots?

Update (21/07/09): VirginBlue cut frequency earlier in the year, thus the extra Tiger slots.

Flights still start from $39 and are in plentiful supply, so visit Adioso to find a cheap fare.

In related news, ‘Airways’ Episode 2 is on tomorrow, Channel 7 at 7:30pm, catch a sneak peek here: http://au.tv.yahoo.com/airways/

VirginBlue have just announced a rather compact sale, where instead of discounting oodles of routes, they’re offering sale fares on… Three. These are:

• Brisbane to Newcastle for $49*
• Newcastle to Gold Coast for $59*
• Adelaide to Perth for $89*

Check out VirginBlue’s sale details for more and to book. Don’t forget Jetstar Friday Fare Frenzy is coming up at 4pm, so if these fares don’t float your boat, come back this afternoon for more!