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The cheapest Australia flights ever are on sale from noon

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British Airways is not the only airline celebrating its 100th birthday – Qantas is also close to the milestone. The airline turned 99 on Saturday and is offering a special centenary sale this week.

Details will be available on the Qantas website at noon.

100 London – Sydney ‘Golden Tickets’ will be sold for peanuts

The biggest discount is to be had on 100 Qantas Golden Tickets.  These are extremely discounted economy fares between London and Sydney.  If you remember the Air New Zealand Black Friday offer from last year this will sound familiar – I got lucky there and snagged a return flight to Los Angeles for £175.

100 of these Golden Tickets will be released over 100 hours, starting midday today (Monday). Qantas is keeping very tight-lipped on the terms and conditions of these fares – look out for another article on HFP this afternoon, or potentially this morning if we get it in advance.

However, we know what these London to Sydney flights are going to cost (we can’t tell you!) and it is very low.

Whether all 100 are released at noon, or whether they are drip-fed over the four days – and, if so, when – we don’t yet know.  We also don’t know how many seats will be offered on the same flight, how long your trip will have to be (we are assuming that Qantas just sets specific flights on specific dates to the promo price), whether you can mix and match a one way promo fare with a standard fare home etc.

All will become clear later, hopefully.  However, your best chance will probably be at midday today before word gets around.

Centenary Sale fares will also be available

If you’re not lucky enough to snag one of the Golden Tickets, Qantas will also be running a 100-hour sale.

Again, prices are under wraps but you can expect to see fares from London to Perth, Melbourne and Sydney. We are hoping that there will be some good Business and First Class discounts.  Stay tuned for a more detailed look at the sale this afternoon.

What do you get on the A380 Sydney flights via Singapore?

If Qantas is offering good value Business and First Class seats in its sale, you could be in for a treat.

As a reminder, Qantas flies its A380s between London and Australia via Singapore. Qantas is in the process of refurbishing its A380s so you may be lucky enough to get one of the brand-new refurbished ones which we wrote about here. They feature a very classy on-board lounge for travellers in business and first:

Qatnas refurbished A380 lounge

The refurbished A380s have the Qantas Business Suite adapted from their 787s. These feature all-aisle access similar to what Finnair operates:

Qatnas refurbished A380 business suite

Qantas also flies its 787 direct from Heathrow to Perth. It’s not clear whether these sale fares apply to this direct route, although if they do that would be a boon, since this is a very popular flight.

The Qantas centenary landing page will have more details on the sale at midday today.

You should also be able to get the first of the massively discounted 100 economy ‘Golden Tickets’ to Sydney at noon.  More details when we have it.

Comments (78)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • GRIMZ says:

    OT, Does anyone know of anything like seatspy for Delta flights? Looking to take advantage of the £4 oneway flight back from LAX to AMS or CDG next year.

    • Andrew M says:

      The Delta site will let you look at a month at a time so isn’t too oainful. I was looking at the same routes over the weekend. If you’re using Virgin miles, availability didn’t match exactly, even for the cheapest Delta redemption flights.

      • GRIMZ says:

        Yes I am using Virgin Miles. 80,000 points must be the available seats with Virgin Miles redemptions in Delta One?

  • C says:

    OT as no bits:

    1) Referred hubby for gold card last Monday and he was approved instantly and card arrived a few days later. Referral points not showing yet. Cause for concern? I think a week is normal from what I remember but never had instant approval before for either of us so the points normally arrive before the card does. If you contact amex when they don’t appear, how long do they normally take to post?

    2) Any news on whether the MR transfer bonus to Marriott is targeted or for all? I have screenshots from chat saying I am eligible, but not sure if hubby will be on new card (unless he asks!)

    Thanks

    • Rob says:

      1. Dunno, but referring hubby is totally allowed so no reason you can’t claim them if they don’t appear

      2. Amex never got back to me, despite promising to. I will chase.

      • C says:

        Thanks Rob. Needing the referral points for a Marriott points advance reservation in Feb and the conversion bonus would help with that!

        • Freddy says:

          I got conflicting information from amex chat on whether the Marriott bonus was targeted. I don’t think they are too sure themselves

    • Tom says:

      Had not been targeted. Did it last week and received bonus immediately.

      • Harry T says:

        Immediately? Wow.

        I was told I had been targeted by Amex chat – haven’t received the bonus yet.

  • APPL says:

    The cheapest I managed to get was 10 years ago, when they were running some Ashes promo, and had few hundred tickets on sale for £215. The only dates that were showing for me at this price, had me on the ground there only for 36 hours. Still, couldn’t resist the price and went with it. Had a long conversation + secondary interview with immigration/border control in SYD, as they were suspicious of my 1 day visit from London with hand baggage only.

    • Andrew M says:

      Maybe the Australian immigration officer thought ther’s no way anyone would travel so far just to see their side thrashed by Australia?

  • Harry T says:

    Probably a stupid question – if I buy economy or premium economy tickets in this sale, can you upgrade them to business with Avios, as Qantas at a OneWorld partner?

    • Lyn says:

      No genuine question is stupid. The answer is almost certainly no. Unfortunately BA and Qantas no longer work closely together since their joint marketing agreement was cancelled several years ago, and even then I don’t think this was possible.

      • Harry T says:

        Thank you, appreciate your help.

      • Lyn says:

        Having said that, Qantas premium economy is significantly better than economy. More business minus than economy plus. Really good customer service and a much more comfortable seat, on the A380 and 747 anyway, so you may well find premium manageable even for flights to Australia. In complete contrast to BA WT+, which I find scarcely better than WT..

        • Harry T says:

          Thanks, that’s really handy. I’ve done Australia in economy once or twice and it was tough

      • BJ says:

        Correct, only partners allowing UUA are AA and IB; only one-class upgrade is allowed.

  • Dawn says:

    With it being 99 years and them having the Centenary sale, do you think it’s likely they’ll offer something next year too when it really is 100? I know you don’t have a crystal ball but maybe you have an idea?

    • Rhys says:

      I assume there will be ongoing promotions throughout the year, but I have no insider info

  • LewisB says:

    OT: Has anyone recently referred a friend to find out their application has been denied by Amex? I’ve never had this before. His credit is in good state and he’s fairly well off. He did just close down one Amex and let me referred him for another.

    • John says:

      The denial won’t be because you referred him.

    • meta says:

      It could be that something on his application form wasn’t matching from his previous applications or data Amex holds about him. Amex might have flagged some discrepancy and thought it potential risk. Did he change jobs/salary, bank account, address recently? If not, I’d call Amex new accounts department and query.

      • LewisB says:

        Fair point on data not matching. I’ll get him to phone and query. Thank you.

  • Spaghetti Town says:

    I once got one of the ANZ £400 tickets to LHR Auckland on black friday 2 years ago. Had to cancel within the 24 hour grace period though as I had to act fast and the dates weren’t too favorable.

    • Jon Sno says:

      What a waste.
      Speculative booking?

      • Spaghetti Town says:

        Yep, exactly that. it was the only fare i could find when I searched and if you’ve ever been caught in one of these fire sales before you’ll know the rush to book

      • Lady London says:

        Wondering if seats booked speculatively and not paid, or cancelled, would go back on offer for others, or not.

  • Joe says:

    Do you imagine there will be a specific link to click at 12 or will that one in the article that leads to an ad about the sale be replaced on the stroke of noon? Good luck everyone!

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