Jet Star sale fares advice?

[Truman42]

Anyone have any past experience with Jet star and their sale fares? About a week or two ago a return trip to Phuket was on sale for $1300, (Heading over for 2 weeks in mid May) then overnnight they went up to $1600.

Now they have an Australia day sale on which ends Tuesday night and they are back down to $1300.
I dont quite have the funds unless I max out the credit card and dont really want to as it will cost us an extra $50 to pay with card.

SWMBO seems to think that if they have them on sale now they will have them on sale again in a month or two. My theory is that the closer we get to May and as the plane fills up they wont put them on sale again unless its for a later date period.

Anyone noticed this to be the case?

 

[mckenry]

Youre pretty right Truman. I get the Jetstar email and that is pretty much how it works. Those sales are never as good as they look. Tax on top. Usually cant go in peak period, which is why theyre on sale anyway.
The only other thing is they sometime do have VERY last minute elcheapo, good flights when a peak flight is not booked out with 36 hours before takeoff. Thats when the deals are to be found. High risk hoping to hang out for that. And you need to be able to go at the drop of a hat which might involve a visa, which if needed within 24 hours either cant be done or has to be done at the consulut at $$$$$.

If you have the ability to go when the sales are on, then you can save a few bucks, but in my experience (>30 countries) its rarely worth hanging out for a deal. They wont let you rack up miles on those class tickets either.

I usually look in travel agents windows, who have sorted their own deals. Phuket plus 3 nights blah blah blah, is usually a good deal. Stay for two weeks, with 11 nights wherever you want. That is what I find to be the best money saver. The awesome accom which they have basically given away to sell a ticket.

 

[Truman42]

Those flights included all fees taxes and baggage and were for the period we want to go 10th-24th May. Im just not sure if I pay via credit card now whilst the sale is on and cop an extra $50 or take the risk that come mid Feb when we can pay via direct deposit there will be another sale for this same time period.

We already have accomodation sorted so its just flights we need.

 

[Florian]

If you book now you save $250 of the regular fare, guaranteed.

If you wait until Feb you might be able to save $300 - or not.

Pretty simple decision if you ask me.

 

[Mattress]

Have you looked at Air Asia?

They have mid may flights for $300 - $400 each way, plus tax

 

[mckenry]

Those flights included all fees taxes and baggage and were for the period we want to go 10th-24th May. Im just not sure if I pay via credit card now whilst the sale is on and cop an extra $50 or take the risk that come mid Feb when we can pay via direct deposit there will be another sale for this same time period.

We already have accomodation sorted so its just flights we need.

Pay now then. If youre happy with it, period etc, its piece of mind. Done. Dont fret the small saving you might have had, if you waited.

 

[Cube]

Why go cattle on the worst airline? Just get a decent carrier and enjoy it. Try Emirates, they are fantastic. Business class is superb.

 

[Florian]

I think Truman's made the reasons pretty clear in his first post.

Agree that business class is great (who doesn't) but unless it's a free upgrade or by points that I don't need for anything else I find it very hard to justify the cash difference, which would usually buy you at least a few extra nights of top class accommodation at your destination, or weeks of low to mid range accommodation if you're travelling on a budget.

 

[thedragon]

Depending on dates, you can get a return jetstar flight for as low as $574.

For example, depart 15 May, return 27 May. Found it on Zuji.com.au (reputable).

 

[thedragon]

The outbound flight in the example above has a stop over, so it's a longer trip, but it may be worth your while if you're happy for a longer trip and a flight that is $900 cheaper..

 

[thedragon]

Yes, I'm home alone tonight and bored....

When you said $1,300, did you mean $1,300 each, or for the two tickets?

 

[Florian]

Where's Truman anyway?

I reckon he got tempted on a last minute offer and is already on the plane...

 

[mr_wibble]

Hi-ya,

Have you ever used http://skyscanner.net ?
I've used it to book a few things for the family over the last couple of years.

I was able to plug most of the information you gave us (Depart Melbourne -> Phuket, 10th->24 may 2014) and pulled out Jetstar fares of about $1200 return for 2x Adults + 2x luggage + 2x taxes. (So ~$600 each).

It's always worth having a play with it. But remember - they always try to stiff you at the end for insurances, luggage, etc. etc. etc. Whatever they think they can take you for. And then some.

One of the nicest things to do is say you want to depart on <Whole Month>, and then (assuming you're time flexible) fly on a cheaper day.
E.g. if you can leave on a middle-weekday, you can save a bucket of cash.

hope this helps,
cheers,
-kt

 

[pk.sax]

I've been using Billigflieger.de for searching flights for a while. It's german, shows fares in euros but the search is quite deep and searches the same fare across a bunch of search engines in case of few differences. Just convert and shop or get the fare in your head and make someone match it.

 

[Truman42]

$1300 was total for two people and included all taxes, 15 kg baggage for her (carry on for me) and meals on the way there. (At $28 a meal what the ****??)
It was a direct flight there but a stop over in Singapore for 8 hours on the way back which we were happy with. I think it was $1318.00 plus the $50 credit card fee if we pay with card,

I've looked at a lot of the other flight sites mentioned but have found none have been able to beat Jetstars own sale fares.

Now I fully agree that we should just pay now. But I've never been overseas so what would I know. SWMBO on the other hand has been to the US twice and Canada so of course is an expert on travel * Rolls eyes. She seems to think that Jetstar will have plenty more sale fares for May even right up to a month before.

What I was looking for was something along the lines of..

Hey Truman my uncles neighbours best mate works for Jetstar and we were going to Thailand a few years ago and asked him about the sale fares. He said they don't have sales for dates within 3 months so you better book when you see a sale.

Just so I could prove a point..

 

[pk.sax]

Haha. Well, usually there is a % of seats dedicated to discount fares that they try to sell out early. They would keep putting them on sale till they sell out. The rest get sold to last minute bookers and businessmen at fat margins. Being Phuket, I believe the business traveller % expected is quite low so they might have a higher discount seats %. That is also why the prices aren't too cheap because the margin is spread amongst more tickets instead of the normal 2-class flight trying to recoup the margin from the business traveller and business class.

Last minute discount fares is a myth in the current industry in oz, it's from back when the high margin fares used to be sold in advance early and last minute sales were on positive margin seat fares. Today, the cheapest fares are actually discounted on cost even and sold to fill the plane.

 

[Truman42]

Thanks PF. That's exactly the sort of thing I wanted to be able to go back to her with to prove my point that we should buy them now.

And your actually the person I was hopeing to hear from.

If I say "Some guy on AHB said..." I'll probably cop, "Oh what some beer drinking yobbo"

But if I say "A mate of my dads who works in the airline industry said..."

Carries much more weight.. Cheers

 

[djar007]

I have done the thailand trek a few times . A couple of months out is generally enough. Air asia with a kl stopover is the cheapest I have found.rough trip. But you get there.other possibilities are air asia to kl and a smaller local carrier accross the border.i am going about that time too and would not do the stopover again. It will be thai airways all the way for us. Easier on the family.great service. It is a draining experience to fly cheap.the little touches make a big difference to the holidsy experience.

 

[Mick74]

My wife and I head to Thailand a few times a year and these days tend to just stick with Qantas as we can fly direct and can generally find a fare at about $2200 return total. Cattle class is uncomfortable enough without dealing with the likes of Jetstar IMO. I travel on a small budget but I prefer to avoid stopovers unless they are at somewhere interesting and can be extended to a week or so.

Are you committed to going at those times it'll probably be pretty hot. But the Andaman coast tends to head into wet season a bit earlier so you may get some downpours to cool things down.

So I guess I'm saying, no I don't have any jetstar sales advice.

 

[Truman42]

I've never flown Jetstar before, why are they so bad?

If we don't get the Jetstar sale fares we will probably go Malaysian Airlines which are $1600 total so same as Jetstar when not on sale.

@Muddywaters.. The missus wants to go in May for her birthday and doesn't want to go later on in the year. I lived in Broome for 18 years so am used to wet season build up temps so doesn't worry me.