Airlines Aren’t Going Broke – I am

We love it when Airlines fight, because their dogfights over market share usually end up with some of them offering ridiculously cheap airfares to launch a new route or to celebrate some spurious milestone in their all-to recent history.

Either way, I’m a sucker for a cheap airfare and can sniff out a bargain from cruising altitude.

A few years back Virgin started flying into Christchurch and offered fares in their inaugural services for about $150 each way.

Love it, book it, pack and go!

The fares were offered for a very limited time only so I had to be quick to secure my cheapie but in an uncharacteristic moment of rational thinking I thought I’d check what the competition was up to.

Not to be outdone by their annoying little brother in the air, the old hands at Air New Zealand posted one-way airfares to Christchurch on the Internet for even less – $105.00.

And the wine is free on Air New Zealand!

Their competitive generosity meant a trip to Christchurch for both of us for just a little over four hundred dollars return, so I quickly rang some good friends and coerced them into jumping over the pond with us and we were all set.

With a little planning, we’d organised a car to collect us from our homes, take us to the airport and start our little jaunt.

We stayed a couple of nights in Christchurch, caught the coastal train to Picton, and stayed the night around the Marlborough area, sampling every winery we could find.

We hired a car and drove to Greymouth (if only to understand why it’s truly grey by name and nature) then caught the Alpine Express across the mountains back to Christchurch.

One more night, several more drinks, a lunch, a dinner and a few more drinks and we were back on board the aircraft for our return leg. Four nights away in all.

Four nights and a cool $3,500. And we weren’t spending up big!

What was intended to be a short, cheap and cheerful, long weekend getaway ended up costing a bomb all thanks to Virgin defiling us with their offer of a $150 airfare.

You’d think we would have learnt a lesson but oh no, Jetstar go and offer $5.00 numbers to Hobart. Sucked in again.

We hadn’t been there for a couple of years so before I could say “credit control” I’d booked two seats on the flight, (well actually, with their seating policy, I really only booked a couple of boarding passes).

I also booked a hotel in Hobart for two nights, a hire car to take us to Port Arthur and another night in a hotel in the south. My wife dug up all the saved magazine clippings on restaurants she wanted to sample in Hobart, so, admittedly, we ate well. All up – $1,850! Another one of my fabulously cheap weekends.

And Jetstar got me again not so long ago. Damn it. Two return airfares, Melbourne to Newcastle for $28.00 (including taxes) who could refuse? Not me!

Apparently the airline was celebrating Australia’s victory in the Soccer World Cup heats and their fares related to the number of goals scored, or something equally silly.

I didn’t care about the reason. I just wanted the cheap fares and as I hadn’t been to the Hunter Valley before, saw no reason not to go.

Three nights in the Hunter, lunches, dinners, wines massages and spa treatments (not for me of course) clocked up credit card entries totaling $1,900.00. Geez!

Thanks to our competitive skies, I’m going broke saving money.

A Report and Commentary by Kevien Moloney, International Travel Writer and TravelMole Contributor.