Cheap airfares in Australia-How to get the lowest price flights

Over the past few years, the cost of domestic airfares has been decreasing with new competition entering the market. With prices so low, why would you not want to take the opportunity to see our beautiful country. Here are a few tips to make sure you are getting the best price possible on your airfares.

There are 3 main Australian domestic airlines

• Qantas (usually not really great value for domestic flights)
• Jetstar which is Qantas’s budget airline
• Virgin Blue

Be flexible with the times and dates you want to travel. Travel mid week and out side of peak times is most often cheaper. If you are more flexible about the times and days you wish to travel you will be sure to save money.

Book your flights early not only do you avoid disappointment of your desired day and time being sold out. The earlier you book, the cheap your airfares will be.

Sign up to all the major airlines newsletters to be first to hear about special offers, discounts and sales which are available quite often. Last month I got flights with Jetstar for only $3 each way for my family, it was a newsletter members only deal that ran for 3 hours. So it certainly pays off to be on their mailing list.
The draw back with these sales are often that the sites get bogged down with so much traffic, it can be very hard to get a booking through. If you get in quickly, have a good broadband connection and some patients, you should be fine.

Also keep an eye out for Tiger Airways which is set to hit the Australian domestic market towards then end of 2007, beginning of 2008. They have been quoted as saying they will be offering single digit domestic fares, so that will definitely be something to watch out for. The other airlines will also have some super sales on, to try and compete.

Airfare aggregators such as Webjet are also great for helping you find the cheapest fares. Input your details of where and when you want to go and Webjet will query all the relevant Airlines to find you the cheapest fare available for that time and destination. They also have a mailing list that would be worth joining for specials and discounts on a whole rang of travel products, not just airfares.

Jetstar has recently annouced a price guarantee policy. If you find a published internet airfare on another airline that is lower than the lowest available JetSaver fare on jetstar.com they will send you a Jetstar voucher for double the fare difference. Obviously conditions apply, check their site for details.