It's better to book with the airlineĪlthough third-party sites are a good place to compare your options, and they may sometimes have great fares, generally we recommend booking directly through the airline. New laws introduced in 2016 limit credit and debit card surcharges to the realistic cost of processing the payment – generally less than one per cent, or around two per cent for American Express or Diners Club.
Gone are the days when booking sites could surprise you at the checkout with credit card surcharges as high as 17%. And again, that's largely thanks to CHOICE and other organisations campaigning to bring payment card surcharges down to reasonable levels. We didn't include payment fees in our comparison because they can vary depending on how you pay – debit card, credit card, PayPal or other online payment methods.Īgain, the good news is that payment fees are no longer excessively high. That's not to say that the quoted price will be exactly the same as your final price, which may include additional fees for seat selection, check-in luggage, payment fees and more, but it should be pretty close. Under Australian Consumer Law, businesses must disclose any unavoidable fees as part of the total headline price rather than 'dripping' them in throughout the online booking process. This is largely thanks to CHOICE's anti 'drip-pricing' campaign which resulted in all four of Australia's domestic airlines agreeing to end the practice (after copping some hefty fines!). The good news is that none of the sites we looked at this time are still doing that. The last time we ran a similar airfare comparison in 2015, some sites gave us quotes too good to be true in their search results, then bumped up the bill with surprise 'service charges' or 'booking fees' once we clicked through. Heading on a holiday? Check out our free, comprehensive and independent travel insurance reviews to find out which policy is best for you. Google Flights always referred us to the airline's site, as well as giving us a few other options to book elsewhere.Skyscanner and Cheap Flights referred us to other aggregators such as Bestjet, iFly or through to the airline's own site.Kayak sent us to BYOjet, Skiddoo, iFly and the Qantas website in our four scenarios.Watch where you end upĪfter quoting us a fare, some sites directed us elsewhere to book our flight, and some seemed to be aggregating other aggregator sites – which can get confusing. For example, our Virgin flight didn't show up in Hopper's search results at all. The biggest mark-up we found was 17% more expensive than the airline's price (Hopper).īooking sites don't always search all flights and airlines.The biggest savings we found were nine per cent cheaper than the airline's price (Skyscanner and Cheap Flights).Hopper was a mixed bag with one bargain flight and two overpriced flights.Google Flights and Expedia gave us the same price as the airlines.Webjet was more expensive in two out of three scenarios and couldn't offer matching flights on the fourth.Flight Centre was consistently more expensive than the airlines.
Kayak and Cheap Flights had equivalent or cheaper fares than the airlines.What we found Who had the cheapest flights? Melbourne to London Heathrow return with Emirates: 6:00–18:20 Thursday 20 December / 13:40–23:20 Sunday 6 January 2019.Perth to Bali return with Singapore Airlines: 01:10–11:05 Saturday 17 November / 13:00–23:55 Saturday 24 November.Melbourne to Hobart return with Qantas: 19:20–20:35 Friday 19 October / 17:15–18:30 Sunday 21 October.Brisbane to Sydney return with Virgin: 7:00–8:35 Monday 3 September / 19:30–21:00 Thursday 6 September.Hopper: $868.00 Melbourne to London Heathrow return with Emirates: 6:00–18:20 Thursday 20 December / 13:40–23:20 Sunday 6 January 2019 Perth to Bali return with Singapore Airlines: 01:10–11:05 Saturday 17 November / 13:00–23:55 Saturday 24 November Melbourne to Hobart return with Qantas: 19:20–20:35 Friday 19 October / 17:15–18:30 Sunday 21 October Brisbane to Sydney return with Virgin: 7:00–8:35 Monday 3 September / 19:30–21:00 Thursday 6 September
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