Something of a price war broke out today for flights between Melbourne and Sydney. It started with Rex and during the day both Virgin Australia and Jetstar dropped their own prices to match.
It’s good news for travelers who get some keen fares. On top of that, Velocity Frequent Flyers may be able to use the low price fares to take advantage of a couple of promotions on offer.
Rex
Rex fired the first shot in the fare war this morning, announcing $49 fares for flights between Sydney and Melbourne. In addition, if you wanted to sit upfront, you could grab a Business fare for $199. To put that in perspective, that $199 Business Fare is cheaper than many Economy fares on the competition.
These were also fully inclusive fares. Rex includes complimentary checked baggage and onboard snack at those prices.
To be fair, the timeframes on this were pretty tight. You have to book by 28 February and fly sometime during March. Having said that, in these Covid times, you need to be a bit brave to book too far in advance, so flights next month seem ideal.
Virgin Australia
It didn’t take Virgin Australia long to match the fare. And it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise – Virgin Australia and Rex look to be facing off in what could loosely be described as the ‘value’ segment.
Virgin Australia is offering Getaway Economy fares in March of $49, and Business Saver seats for $199.
In the case of Virgin Australia, all the normal benefits of Velocity apply. Even better, there are a few promotions that you may be able to take advantage of.
Normally, a Getaway Fare earns at a rate of 5 Velocity Points per dollar. If you take advantage of the current double points offer, you can get that up to 10 Velocity Points per dollar. In order to take advantage of that offer, you will need to register for the promotion and book a flight by 17 February. While you can take any flight through to 5 January next year, the current discount offer in March will fit in nicely.
In addition, if you hold Gold or Platinum Velocity status, you have until the end of March to book and fly a single flight in order to extend your status. If you have not yet been able to take that flight, then this offer could be for you.
Thoughts
While it is just a single route, it does show that competition is alive and well. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to take advantage of the offer. If I could, I would be tempted to try Rex in one direction and Virgin in the other.
In the case of Rex, it would be to try out their new product. And for Virgin, well, for me, Velocity still gives it the edge, even if there has been some turmoil over the last year. Perhaps if the Rex product works out, and they sort out the frequent flyer program, they may tempt me to fly more.
