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Thrifty Traveler Premium sent out a deal yesterday that is still running today, with round trip flights to Australia available from many US cities from the $860’s. Some examples follow, but Thrifty Traveler has many more cities on the list (including smaller markets like Billings, Cleveland, Colorado Springs, Hartford, St. Louis, and more — it’s worth checking your city as there are many deals in addition to those posted below).
The Deal
- Cheap economy class flights available to Australia from many US cities (from the $860’s round trip)
- A 14-day minimum stay is required for these fares
- Note that it’s easiest to find cheap dates using Google Flights, but prices are almost $100 cheaper through small online travel agencies listed at Momondo
Quick Thoughts
As noted above, it’s easiest to find cheap dates using Google Flights as you can easily look at two months of dates with their calendar. The dates in green are the low fares, and those fares will often drop another $80 or more when searching through Momondo for the same dates. Do your due dilligence if you choose a lesser-known travel agency. While you should be fine as long as you’re careful (make sure the price doesn’t suddenly increase during the booking process), you may have more challenge if there are irregular operations. The savings could certainly still be worth it.
Points enthusiasts may prefer using miles to fly business or first class for flights of this length, but these are some excellent prices for those looking for economy class fares. Remember that the seasons are flipped for those of us located in North America, with our summer being their winter and vice versa. I see flights on sale from June through January depending on origin and destination, so there are plenty of options.
If you need a little inspiration for your trip, see these posts from JM Hoffman with some of the photos you can expect hope to take if you’re lucky.
You’ve Gotta See This! Australian Wildlife
You’ve Gotta See This! Melbourne and Sydney
Here are some examples – click the images or city pairs to go through to Momondo:
Austin to Sydney from $863
Boston to Sydney from $863
Chicago to Sydney from $890
Washington to Sydney from $863
As noted above, many more cities are possible, so it’s worth checking your city.
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Are you worried about the legitimacy of the small OTAs that Momondo shows? Many have hundreds to thousands of horror stories online or BBB warnings.
Only marginally. Once you have a ticket number, you should be good to go (unless you run into irregular operations, as noted in the post). If you don’t receive a ticket number / refund, you should be covered by your credit card protections. It’s definitely less of a known known than dealing with a major OTA or airline, but I don’t think I’d be too concerned about booking through Momondo.
Thrifty Traveler has a good post with more info about Momondo and its OTAs here:
https://thriftytraveler.com/mystery-behind-momondo/
I certainly don’t mean to say that it’s without risk — you’re right that there is some risk involved with dealing with a small and relatively unknown OTA. I think it’s an individual decision as to how much that risk is worth. If I were only saving $10 with the small OTA with bad Google reviews, I’d probably just pay the $10 extra to go with a larger company. If we’re talking $80 per person and I’m booking a family of 4 or 5, I might be willing to chance it in order to save three or four hundred bucks.To each his own on that.
It’s also worth noting that it depends on the type of horror story. When it comes to OTA horror stories, I find that they typically fall into one of two categories:
1) I showed up at the airport and it turned out I had a fake ticket number and the OTA’s phone number was disconnected. Meanwhile, they stole my credit card number and used it to book eight first class tickets to Pengo Pengo. (legit complaint)
2) I booked a nonrefundable fare and my cousins’s best friend’s sister’s chinchilla contracted a rare disease and they wouldn’t have a heart and let me cancel my flight and/or I bought a basic economy fare and the airline wouldn’t let me bring six carry-on bags and the OTA refused to do anything about it. (unreasonable / inexperienced traveler)
If the horror stories fall into category 1, I’d obviously be more concerned and less likely to chance it. I find that OTA complaints can really go either way and that affects my level of concern.
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So tempting! Australia was simply incredible, and I can’t wait to go back.