Great, no advance purchase required... but it will take me some advance saving...

Ahh.. if only I had $1000 lying around.

Hey I just thought of new section for Consumerist so that they have advertising impressions. Lets post every single new airline deal, every day!

Sweet, so it's like $2,000 gross, before the United Experience Penalty*

*UEP may include--but is not limited to--the following: Poor food, surly staff, missed connections, lost baggage, damaged baggage, attempted suicide, and PTSD.

Wow, I guess you could call this a fire sale!

Too Soon?

Don't forget to wear your asbestos suit if you go.

Those poor people. That fire is awful. Whoever set it should be flogged.

Uh...maybe it's "cheap" because now would not be the greatest time to visit Australia?

[www.news.com.au]

@AngrySicilian: I was trying to come up with something about a burning desire to get to Oz, so no, not too soon for me ;-)

Virgin just launch LAX - Sydney service. that's why it's cheap.

This seems like a brilliant synergistic strategy to me.

Consumerist is about poor customer service; airlines provide legendarily poor customer service.

Therefore if you can encourage consumerist readers to fly they will keep this blog alive with their horror stories. Seems like a win all the way around.

Considering that at this time of year it's typically $600 more, this is a bargain.

A check of NWA.com for MSP to SYD was $4750.

@AngrySicilian:

No more comments are required for this thread...you are a winner!

Since Qantas is price-matching, DEFINITELY go that route. They have amazing flights from LAX to Sydney. I'd kill myself to be on any United flight for the 14 hours, not to mention the other flights to even get to LA.

@Ash78: OTOH, if Qantas is price-matching, that'd be the way to go.

From what I've heard, if you have a choice between a U.S.-flag air carrier, and a non-U.S. one, you should always fly the latter. The service will almost always be better.

@Kelly McCarthy: Australia's pretty big; I'm guessing the whole country isn't on fire.

I once had a great vacation in Glacier National Park when it was on fire. We just planned each day's activities based on which sections of the park were open, and watching the firefighting activity was pretty cool in its own right.

@AngrySicilian: Oh the burning! Amaaaazing graaace... and scene.

@jamesdenver: Ding ding ding!

I can't say much, but keep an eye out for even better deals from V.Aus!

@speedwell, avatar of snark: If you read the Consumerist, and aren't saving money, you should be ashamed! Ashamed I say!

@ScubaSteveKzoo: Exactly. Foreign carriers treat customers like human beings and their cabins do not feel like a greyhound bus.

Oh. Wow. I really want to go :/ Baaaad timing.

What's to pricematch? Quantas began offering $760 round trips to Sydnay, at least from here on the West Coast, a week or so ago to celebrate the imminent arrival of their new Airbus A380 places. ($760 = 380 x 2, get it?) So the only good thing about this deal is the lack of an advance purchase requirement. Besides, who wants to go to a country that could be mistaken, at least in recent days, for hell?

I live in Australia and want to give my American friends a tip. Save your money. If the fires and floods don't kill you, the searing 40 degree celsius plus temperatures will. Besides Australian immigration requires foreigners to fill in 14 pages of visa application forms just for a straightforward tourist visa, with no guarantee of entry.

Darn, I wish this were later this year. My girlfriend is Australian, and I'm planning on going in the fall. It is a pretty good deal. My trip there last year was on Qantas and United, and cost about $1700 total from Kansas City, Missouri to Adelaide, South Australia. And it was a pretty good deal at the time. I booked through Qantas directly and Expedia for United. No travel site came close for one itinerary.

In response to all the comments about the fires, there are no fires in Sydney. The fires are 600 miles away in another state. Here in Sydney it's 90 degrees and sunny, and I'm staring out my window at a beautiful white sand beach- hardly an inferno.

If anyone wants to go, but is worried about the whole country-on-fire thing, don't be. the fire is mostly in one state (Victoria). We've got a bunch of other places worth going to.
Sydney (New South Wales) I hear, is a bit like the L.A. area of California (I've been there but not Sydney). Adelaide (South Australia) is very laid-back and has some great parks and reserves, although it's very hot in SA right now - 40C plus temperatures.

Perth (West Australia) has great parks and some great city areas too, plus since we're so far from everyone else we've got some wildlife you won't see in the other states, including the World Famous Quokkas on Rottnest Island (look them up on wikipedia; sooo cute!). Not to mention the Goldfields up near Kalgoorlie (said kal-gool-ie) one of the world's largest and most profitable gold mines.
*cough* so yeah, you should probably come over here to WA. We're the best, even though the other states won't admit it, and unlike the other states we're not having too hot of a summer.

The fare war is getting pretty ridiculous. Even before all the fires broke out, V Australia had fares as low as $900 RT including all taxes and fees LAX-Melbourne.

Too bad my friends I'd be staying with are slightly preoccupied, since one of them works for the Aussie Red Cross and was helping people with the crushing heatwave for a couple weeks before Victoria burst into flames. [Blatant plug for donations] Donation page for the Australian Red Cross's Victorian Bushfire Appeal. They need all the help they can get right now.[/plug]

@AngrySicilian: Aussie's are the first to poke fun at others, but considering fires are still raging and I have family in danger of losing their homes, I think it's a bit too soon. Not too soon to donate to the relief appeals though.

@AngrySicilian: 173 dead. Yeah, a little soon for me.