# Getting to Australia for the lowest possible cost **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 17, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-australia-for-the-lowest-possible-cost/285125 "2005-01-17T01:56:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![St\_Ides](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@St\_Ides](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St_Ides)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-australia-for-the-lowest-possible-cost/285125/1 "2005-01-17T01:56:03Z")
The long: One of my best friends is ‘on tour’ with the Canadian forces in Afghanistan/Undisclosed country, and instead of him coming home for his 18 day leave, he’s going to Australia. Several of my friends have agreed to meet him there, and I certainly want to go. However, I’m not blessed/cursed with the cash resources that my friends have (AKA a job). We have an agreement that when we reach there, we will be paying for barely anything, due to an arrangement my friend has with an employer (they pay for accomodations, travel, and possibly food) so all I should be paying for would be some food/plenty of drink and perhaps, on occasion, a night or two in a hostel. Obviously, I’d make sure I have a cash reserve in case these arrangements don’t work out. The short: I’m looking at flight-only. I’d like to leave here (from Toronto, Ontario, Canada) on the 11th of February and arrive in Sydney. And the cheapest flight I’ve found is about $1400 Canadian dollars… Which is pretty much my upper limit. So how would I go about lowering this cost? Could I fly standby? Sell my baggage space and go as a courier? Where can I find this information? ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-australia-for-the-lowest-possible-cost/285125/2 "2005-01-17T02:46:57Z")
> [@St\_Ides](#): > > I’d like to leave here (from Toronto, Ontario, Canada) on the 11th of February and arrive in Sydney. And the cheapest flight I’ve found is about $1400 Canadian dollars… Which is pretty much my upper limit. > So how would I go about lowering this cost? > Could I fly standby? Sell my baggage space and go as a courier? Where can I find this information? I wouldn’t think you’d find anything much cheaper. The only thing that night help is being flexible with your travel dates by a day or two. Flying standby is often more expensive than booking in advance. Courier? What are the odds that someone needs aomething couriered from Toronto to Sydney on the requested date? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-australia-for-the-lowest-possible-cost/285125/3 "2005-01-17T03:52:37Z")
C$1400 (which I assume is a return fare) sounds like a very good deal to me and I agree with \*\*Tapioca \*\* that you’re not likely to find anything much cheaper. As a comparison, I’ve just had a quick look at some of the local deals available for a return Sydney/Toronto/Sydney ticket at the same time. The best was around A$1800. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-australia-for-the-lowest-possible-cost/285125/4 "2005-01-17T05:11:53Z")
Yeah, $1400 Canadian sounds pretty good. I flew to Australia from Baltimore to visit family and friends just over a year ago, and the best price i could find at the time was about $US1400. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-australia-for-the-lowest-possible-cost/285125/5 "2005-01-17T05:15:46Z")
Wow, he must be quite an interesting person for a bunch of friends to want to travel to the other side of the Earth to see him! Adam ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-australia-for-the-lowest-possible-cost/285125/6 "2005-01-17T07:27:59Z")
> [@St\_Ides](#): > > The short: > I’m looking at flight-only. Congratulations! you wouldn’t believe how many inflatable raft jokes you cut off with that line. unfortunately, I don’t have any pertinent info to give, sorry ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-australia-for-the-lowest-possible-cost/285125/7 "2005-01-17T09:24:25Z")
There are courier companies that will pay you a decent amount to carry stuff. Documents and so forth. Look it up, it could save you heaps. Otherwise, buy your ticket on the net, well in advance. If you scan the times and dates you may find the odd dip in price here and there. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-australia-for-the-lowest-possible-cost/285125/8 "2005-01-17T15:25:47Z")
> [@St\_Ides](#): > > I’d like to leave here (from Toronto, Ontario, Canada) on the 11th of February and arrive in Sydney. and > [@Sevastopol](#): > > Otherwise, buy your ticket on the net, well in advance. It’s a bit late for that, methinks. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-australia-for-the-lowest-possible-cost/285125/9 "2005-01-17T19:35:00Z")
C$1400 for a Torranto/Sydney fight is fantastic. I have two suggestions as to where you _might_ be able to get one cheaper. Qantas usually has some good sales. Check their web site. Have you looked on Priceline? ---
**Author:** ![St\_Ides](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@St\_Ides](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St_Ides)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-australia-for-the-lowest-possible-cost/285125/10 "2005-01-17T21:35:18Z")
Well, I’ve tried all the other ways that have been suggested, and it appears that I can’t do any better than that price. Thanks for your help everyone. I’ll let you know what happens. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-australia-for-the-lowest-possible-cost/285125/11 "2005-01-18T08:38:40Z")
I’m going to Australia on vacation later this week. I thought $1400 was a very good deal. That’s one reason why I’m going back. Qantas can’t match Air Canada since this is Australia’s “high season”. The Lonely Planet Guide suggests courier flights, etc., but the prices are similar and these require far more organization, etc. If you hadn’t bought tickets before Air Canada’s current seat sale (until Jan. 19), you’d have paid C$2600. Dr\_P