Flighthacker

Cold in Melbourne? Fly to Phuket from December! Photo Credit: Shelby Lee Root

V Australia has announced the following new routes: Melbourne to Phuket, Brisbane to Phuket and Melbourne to Johannesburg, with the Phuket routes commencing 3 December and J’burg kicking off on 13 March, 2010! To celebrate, fares are now on sale ex. Melbourne and Brisbane to Thailand for $399 one way and ex. Melbourne to South Africa for $1899 return including taxes! [...]

V Australia are stepping up, offering Sydney to Los Angeles fares for $496 one way, $930 return including tax, for the travel period of 20 July to 30 November. This is an exceptional time to buy up if you’re planning to travel to the US, with the trans-Pacific fare war in full-swing.

Now that V Australia offers the flexibility of purchasing one-way fares, you can even think of putting together your own circle/round the world itinerary (see my previous article for advice on doing this), however please note that you will need to show proof that you intend to exit the United States (ie. a valid ticket to your next destination) in order to enter the US in the first place.

View V Australia’s sale page for more details and Adioso for the best fares. Sale expires 4 August, or until sold out. Giddyup!

Photo Credit: Gemma (3fold)

Foremost, I’ve read a handful of articles proudly proclaiming that “you can now fly around the world using discount airlines alone!”, but sadly, no-one has told their fair readers how this can be done. Secondly, I’ve read countless round-the-world (RTW) itineraries and they all share one thing in common – they’re all the sort of trips that your mum would put you on. So let me hit two birds with one stone, friends. Not only am I going to show you how to travel RTW solely on low-cost carriers, but provide you with two itineraries that not only showcase the variety of airlines that can get you there on the cheap, but will provide trips to remember. For all the wrong reasons. [...]

Fly Sydney to LA for $945 return inc tax!

Tour de France Stage 8 is rounding an exciting summit climb, so this will be quick – V Australia is flying from Sydney to Los Angeles for $945 return including tax, for travel between 2 Jul – 30 Nov. Sale ends 20 Jul or when sold out.

Check out V Australia’s sale page for details and to book.

Also with V Australia are some great Travelocity deals from Australia to US destinations including Las Vegas, New York and Washington D.C. With the dollar running strong, you may find yourself a good deal. Check out Travelocity’s sale fares.

Go Astana! Go you good thing, Lance Armstrong!

V Australia, part of the Virgin Blue Group and the US’ Delta Airlines have announced a tie-up that will include not only collaboration on route and product planning, but will also have them codesharing on their respective networks. The result – for them to ‘compete more effectively’ on the trans-Pacific route, and offer a ‘greater choice of destinations, frequencies and schedules’. Applications have been lodged and are pending approval from AU and US regulatory bodies.

This move will ultimately put more pressure on Qantas and United Airlines, who have dropped fares from Australia to US destinations in recent weeks in step with their competition. Keep an eye peeled on this site in coming weeks for further sales as Delta and V Australia further establish themselves on this route.

If you favour the Virgin airline family and count your frequent flyer points, here is some great news – V Australia and Virgin Atlantic have signed a deal which enables their respective frequent flyer members to earn points across both airlines’ networks.

What this means is that if you’re part of Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club, you will soon be able to earn points via V Australia’s Velocity programme and vice-versa. V Australia’s network includes VirginBlue, V Australia, Pacific Blue and Polynesian Blue. No word yet on whether this reciprocal arrangement will include Flying Club and Velocity airline partners, only some of which are common between the two frequent flyer schemes.

Plans are also underway to form a unified mileage redemption scheme, we’ll keep you posted as Flighthacker discovers more.