QANTAS and Jetstar to do less with less

With sky-high fuel bills QANTAS has decided to do some route pruning. QANTAS will exit the Gold Coast-Sydney and Ayers Rock-Melbourne routes and reducing services on Ayers Rock-Sydney from August. From July Jetstar will cut Sydney-Whitsunday Coast, Adelaide-Sunshine Coast, and Brisbane-Hobart. The service reductions will reduce capacity by five percent ‘the equivalent of grounding six aircraft’.

According to the SMH

Qantas plans to “ground” two Boeing 767s, retire one ageing 737 and speed up the retirement of its fuel-guzzling fleet of four 747-300s.

But in a worrying sign, Qantas said its low-cost subisidiary Jetstar would cancel the delivery of one A321 and ground another of its relatively new A320s. This counters moves by other airlines to focus on the retirement of older and less fuel efficient jets. Jetstar said the grounded A320 would be used as a “spare”.

ABC Radio National’s PM: QANTAS reacts to petrol prices by cutting routes

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The French are polite – so take that you English pig-dogs!

According to a Reader’s Digest survey New York, Zurich and Toronto are the world’s most polite cities and Kuala Lumpur, Bucharest and Mumbai the world’s rudest. Paris, unfortunately, did the stereotype of the rude Frenchmen no favours by managing no more than a mid-table finish of joint fifteenth with London. Even Sydney managed to do better, matching the Milanese as the 24th rudest city.

Three measures were used to test each cities rudeness quotient:

1) Walking into public buildings 20 times behind people to see if they would hold the door open for us.
2) Buying small items from 20 stores and recorded whether the sales assistants said thank you.
3) Dropping a folder full of papers in 20 busy locations to see if anyone would help pick them up.

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[Via Expedia]

Qantas domestic sale

Qantas domestic sale.

For Travel: between 11 June and 3 July, and 23 July and 18 September 2008

Onsale until Thursday 22 May.

Sydney to:
Melbourne one way from $99
Brisbane one way from $99
Canberra one way from $99
Adelaide one way from $125
Cairns one way from $175

Canberra to:
Sydney one way from $99
Melbourne one way from $99
Brisbane one way from $119

Melbourne to:
Adelaide one way from $85
Sydney one way from $99
Canberra one way from $99
Brisbane one way from $125

Brisbane to:

Adelaide one way from $135

Townsville one way from $135

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[Image by Skazama]

72 hour VirginBlue Sale: Sydney – Gold Coast $49

VirginBlue are running a seventy-two hour sale. A number of smaller domestic routes included (all for June travel) and east coast capitals to Christchurch and Nadi (somewhat more expansive dates).

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[Image by scherre]

Jetstar Sale

Just a heads-up about a new Jetstar ‘sale’, although it’s a bit of damp squib compared to recent deals (perhaps we’ve been a bit spoilt…). I couldn’t see too startling so I didn’t bother copying the whole schebang. Let me know if you think otherwise.

Routes:

• Melbourne to Bangkok or Singapore (via Darwin),
• Sydney to Vietnam or Japan, and
• Queensland to Japan or Christchurch

Sale runs until Wednesday 21 May 2008 for travel 24 May – 24 Jun 08.

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World Listed

If you have a few moments or are in need of travel inspiration the TripAdvisor Destinations Awards are worth a quick once-over. They were apparently ‘determined by a combination of TripAdvisor’s travelers’ favorite places and overall popularity on TripAdvisor’.

New Zealand takes out a quinella, with Milford Sound and Queenstown the two highest ranked destinations. Sydney, Cairns, Byron Bay, Melbourne, Port Douglas, Noosa, Perth, Cape Tribulation, Fremantle, Alice Springs, the Margaret River, Airlie Beach and Hobart were the Aussie inclusions. With regard to the USA California dominated, with Lake Tahoe the hightest rated, and in Europe it was Rhodes. Thailand managed six mentions. One slightly bizarre inclusion was Nadi, which may be a gateway to heaps of Fijian goodness but which is a pretty ordinary destination in itself.

Can anybody tick all of them off?

[Image of Milford Sound via Anita Gould]

Air New Zealand Sale – One Way $219 From Australian East Coast

Air New Zealand has a 72 hour sale running until Wed 14th of May. Deals to New Zealand (Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch) include

• Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane & Gold Coast one way from $219
• Adelaide one way from $339
• Perth one way from $499

For travel July to September 08. Prices include taxes and surcharges.

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[Hat tip: OzBargains. Image via sea-bass]

Jetstar Birthday Sale Extended

Jetstar’s Birthday sale has been extended with a new batch of fares released (reproduced below) for May 20 – June 24.

On sale until midnight (23:59 AEST) Sunday 11 May 2008, unless sold out prior. Sale may be extended. For travel on selected days and flights only. Limited availability on school holidays and public holiday weekends.

Routes	Travel period 20 May – 24 Jun 08	JetSaver Light Fares from $AUD	JetSaver Fares from $AUD
Brisbane Osaka			$344
Cairns Nagoya			$244
Cairns Osaka			$244
Melbourne Bangkok		$344	$364
Melbourne Christchurch		$144	$164
Sydney Christchurch		$144	$164
Sydney Ho Chi Minh City		$344	$364
Sydney Kuala Lumpur		$344	$364
Sydney Osaka			$344
Sydney Phuket		$344	$364

Qantas Aussie Getaway Sale

Qantas domestic sale on now until midnight (AEST) Monday 5 May 2008. Price includes a minimum 1,000 Frequent Flyer points.

These great deals are available for travel between:

• 20 May and 26 June,
• 23 July and 17 September, and
• 15 October and 10 December 2008.

Sydney to	One-way from
Canberra	$85
Brisbane	$95
Gold Coast	$95
Melbourne	$99
Adelaide	$120
Hobart	$125
Cairns	$169
Alice Springs	$198
Ayers Rock (Uluru)	$198
Perth	$209

Canberra to	One-way from
Sydney	$85
Melbourne	$95
Adelaide	$105
Brisbane	$115

Melbourne to	One-way from
Adelaide	$75
Canberra	$95
Sydney	$99
Hobart	$99
Brisbane	$119
Alice Springs	$179
Ayers Rock (Uluru)	$185
Perth	$198

Brisbane to	One-way from
Sydney	$95
Canberra	$115
Melbourne	$119
Cairns	$129
Adelaide	$135
Alice Springs	$209
Perth	$299

Cairns to	One-way from
Brisbane	$129
Sydney	$169
Alice Springs	$229

Gold Coast to	One-way from
Sydney	$95

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Once, twice, three times the sale(s) – Virgin Blue respond with “Party at Our Place Specials”

Virgin Blue have responded to Jetstar and Tiger. Specials on domestic routes (too many to list) and:

New Zealand

• Brisbane → Wellington $229^ AUD
• Sydney → Christchurch $149 AUD
• Melbourne → Christchurch $149 AUD
• Brisbane → Christchurch $149 AUD

• Auckland → Gold Coast $179 NZD
• Auckland → Brisbane $185 NZD
• Wellington → Brisbane $185^ NZD
• Christchurch → Sydney $179^ NZD
• Christchurch → Melbourne $179^ NZD
• Christchurch → Brisbane $185^ NZD
• Auckland → Cairns $339 NZD
• Auckland → Mackay $279 NZD
• Auckland → Rockhampton $279 NZD
• Christchurch → Adelaide $299 NZD
• Christchurch → Cairns $329 NZD
• Christchurch → Canberra $259 NZD
• Wellington → Cairns

Tonga

• Auckland → Nuku Alofa (Tonga) $149 NZD
• Auckland → Nuku Alofa (Tonga) $169 NZD

• Sydney → Nuku Alofa (Tonga) $279 AUD
• Melbourne → Nuku Alofa (Tonga) $349* AUD
• Brisbane → Nuku Alofa (Tonga) $349* AUD
• Adelaide → Nuku Alofa (Tonga) $349* AUD
• Canberra → Nuku Alofa (Tonga) $349* AUD

Samoa

• Auckland → Apia (Samoa) $239 NZD
• Christchurch → Apia (Samoa) $299* NZD
• Wellington → Apia (Samoa) $299* NZD
• Auckland → Apia (Samoa) $259 NZD
• Christchurch → Apia (Samoa) $299* NZD
• Wellington → Apia (Samoa) $299* NZD

• Sydney → Apia (Samoa) $349 AUD
• Melbourne → Apia (Samoa) $399* AUD
• Brisbane → Apia (Samoa) $399* AUD
• Adelaide → Apia (Samoa) $399* AUD
• Canberra → Apia (Samoa) $399* AUD
• Gold Coast → Apia (Samoa) $399* AUD

Cook Islands

• Auckland → Rarotonga $249 NZD
• Christchurch → Rarotonga $299* NZD
• Wellington → Rarotonga $299* NZD

Travel between dates vary, fares are one-way include most taxes. Seats are limited and may not be available at peak times or on all flights.

Hope it’s of interest.