Domestic travel in Australia is expensive. The route from Sydney to Melbourne — one of the busiest air corridors in the world — now routinely produces fares above $300 each way at typical booking windows. A return flight from Brisbane to Perth can exceed $800. For a country as physically large as Australia, where distances make driving impractical for most routes, the cost of getting around has become a genuine constraint on how Australians live.
Airline Pricing and How to Beat It
Airline dynamic pricing is designed to charge each passenger as close to their maximum willingness to pay as possible. The strategies that undermine this work because they position you outside the segments the algorithm is targeting.
Book 6–10 weeks out for leisure travel. This is the window where pricing on most domestic routes is most competitive. Inside four weeks, prices climb sharply as business travellers fill seats at higher fares. Beyond ten weeks, prices are sometimes elevated as airlines test demand. The 6–10 week window is reliably the sweet spot.
Be flexible on departure and return times. The most expensive times to fly are Monday and Friday mornings, and Sunday evenings. Early morning Tuesday/Wednesday departures and Saturday returns are consistently cheaper on the same routes.
Set fare alerts. Google Flights and Skyscanner both offer fare tracking that notifies you when prices change on a route. For trips you're planning more than three months out, this is consistently effective.
Points: The Honest Assessment
Qantas Frequent Flyer and Velocity points are genuinely valuable for premium economy and business class on international routes, where the cash price is high enough that points represent excellent value. For domestic economy travel, the value proposition is much weaker. Points are hard to earn in sufficient quantities for free flights, and the taxes and fees on redemptions have increased significantly.
If you're strategically accumulating points for domestic use, the honest advice is: reconsider. The time and effort typically produce a lower return than simply booking with a credit card that provides cashback.
Road Trips: The Overlooked Option
For distances up to 700–800 kilometres, driving is now cost-competitive with flying when you account for the full cost of air travel — airport transfers, baggage fees, check-in time and the general friction of the process. The resurgence of interest in Australian road trips since 2020 is not just a lifestyle trend — it reflects genuine economics. For families, the comparison is even more favourable.