Air NZ sale - Happy Dance!

[Andona]

Well I won't be going to the Sydney Travel Expo after all - we bought flights last night on Air NZ

I went in to to our local Flight Centre yesterday to confirm something they told me last time - while the Expo is on the Flight centre agencies can do the same deals as they have at the Expo. As DH wasn't going to be able to come with me I thought it would be easier to just go to the local shopping centre than to go into town.

She confirmed that and , in fact, she said she could do the deals for me on Friday ( the Expo doesn't start till Saturday) She said that technically the Friday deals were only for VIP customers but if I went in on Friday she'd give me the deals. She would be in the office all weekend etc etc. Smiles all around, she was looking forward to seeing me on Friday etc etc

Anyway, THEN I mentioned that we wanted to go to the USA over the Sept school hols and her face dropped. She explained that YES the airlines would be offering deals at the Expo but the deep discount seats were EXTREMELY limited over school holidays, and the Expo discounts would ONLY be offered on the currently available cheapest seats. If a flight had no more cheap-cheap seats NOW then there would be NO deals on that flight at the Expo. We started plugging in some dates ( Qantas) etc and the upshot was that, unless I could be VERY flexible on dates the Expo deals would be a washout for us

Between work and school commitments we don't have a lot of flexibility...So, back to the drawing board , until last night I stumbled across the Air NZ sale that is on at the moment ( till midnight tonight) Only through to LA or San Francisco but when I plugged in our dates I could get some fantastic prices. I checked ticket prices from LAX through to Miami or Fort Lauderdale and the THREE of us can fly to Miami for only $200 more than TWO of us on Qantas !! ( and I get to keep my Qantas FF points!)

Connection times in LAX mean we'll be having a stopover night in LA but that really appeals to me - we'll arrive in Miami a lot fresher and brighter than we would have if we'd flown straight through. Air NZ are a bit tight on baggage allowances for the USA but it's the same as the allowances we had going to Europe last year so I'm OK with that too.

DS is happy because every seat on their new 777-300s have AC power and USB port and an iPod doc

And, best of all, I finally know I'm really going

 

[ExcitedSam]

WOOHOO thats awesome!! it's so good and kinda scarey to have dates locked in!

We looked at the expo at NZ too but couldn't get flights cheap around the dates we wanted.

I think I'm going to book some accommodation today........ I dont know why I'm so nervous about it, I guess it means I have to make a decision on where we are going!

ETA I finally got a ticker!!!!

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

That is very exciting. Well done!!!!!

 

[5ofus]

Yay! How exciting for you!!!

Are you getting the Skycouch seats since there are three of you?

 

[BecBennett]

so what prices were they?

 

[Andona]

Thanks all.

5ofus, when DS was younger I'd have been interested in paying the extra for the Skycouch but he's taller than me now and we thought we might end up in a fistfight over who got to lie down! .

Bec, we paid $1588 each for Syd - Lax return.. That seemed pretty good for school holidays , not as good as the $888 we paid in 2009 ( now that was a great year!) but a lot better than the $2400 we paid in 2005. I can tell you I am REALLY looking forward to the days when we don't have to go in school holidays!

We could have paid $100 less if we'd been prepared to come home from LAX via San Francisco but we didnt think the saving was worth it for us.

Andona

 

[meandmygirl]

I bought ours yesterday - DD and I cost $2700 which I am happy with. I checked this morning and the price is now $1300 more.

Adds a few extra hours but breaks up the flight a bit.

 

[WAMUMOF4]

thats great news it feels so much more real once those flights are booked