Cheap Flights

If you've been flying in New Zealand for several years, you'll know that the price of airline travel has significantly reduced in the past decade. This is due to the initiation of budget air travel, modeled after the popular European offering to make flights as cheap as possible.

The Introduction of No Frills Airline Services

Budget air travel first saw two features of traditional airline travel made redundant - complimentary food and beverages, and in-flight movies. Dubbed ‘no-frills' travel at the time, it was first introduced for trans-Tasman travel from New Zealand to Brisbane and Sydney in Australia. This mode of travel ‘took off' so to speak, with thousands of Kiwis excited they were now offered an affordable way to travel across the ditch.

Other changes made for budget air travel were the reduction of staff  available for telephone sales, in favour of online ticketing, as phone bookings mean increased costs and limited service opportunities. Frequent flyer points and club lounges were also abolished for travelers on budget flights. More recently, planes have been manufactured specifically for budget travel, with more seats and smaller leg room to accommodate more passengers per flight.

The Pros and Cons of Budget Air Travel

While there are many great things about low-cost air travel, it does also have some draw backs. Let's weigh up the positives and the negatives:

Pros:

• Price. Obviously, the biggest draw to budget travelling is the price. Fewer overheads and limited destinations mean travelers can be offered fares at a fraction of what they would have cost during the 1990s and in decades beforehand.
• On demand service. While air travel once included meals, refreshments and alcoholic beverages, and the latest movies, the cost of these was locked into the price of each fare, whether you wanted these services or not. Now, meals and drinks are available for purchase and digital entertainment players can be rented in-flight, meaning you only get what you want to pay for, and can choose exactly which options you'd like each flight.
• One-way travel. Most budget air travel is charged on a one-way basis, giving travelers great flexibility when it comes to deciding how long to stay, and giving an option to experiment with travel plans and routes.
• New planes. Since most planes on budget routes are purpose-built (or at the least, refurbished), travelers get the luxury of travelling on brand new fleets.
• Increased holiday time. Budget flights often leave very early in the morning and arrive very late in the evening as New Zealand airport charges are lowest at these times. This means passengers can spend the maximum amount of time in their holiday destination.

Cons:

• Limited international routes. Budget flights are restricted to routes which will fill up quickly, and are normally only offered from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, to cities such as Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. South Pacific routes have more recently been offered to various islands.
• Taxes. The price of taxes are often not included in the promotional fare price that may be advertised, meaning you may get a shock when you proceed to book when the total price of the fare is increased.
• No refunds. Most budget airlines have a very strict policy against refunds to preserve numbers. Some airlines however, may offer flight changes for an additional fee and travel insurance can cover you for emergencies.  
• Baggage restrictions. Luggage is often limited when flying budget, normally to a maximum of 20kg per person for international flights. Sizes of permittable carry-on have also been reduced.
• Connecting flights. In a bid to fill up each flight, travelers may have to succumb to connecting flights to get to their intended destination, even though a direct flight may be normally offered. Often, Australian flights from major cities to New Zealand will go via other Australian destinations to fill up each fleet. 

 A Competitive Market

One of the greatest things about budget air travel from New Zealand (and within New Zealand) is that because there are several competitive airlines all fighting for passengers, they are continually trying to out-do each other with the best deals. Every so often, one airline will push the envelope and offer a deal no other competitor has dared to offer, and when successful, the others will follow. A precedent is then set by which New Zealand travelers become accustomed to, and we sit back and wait for the next best deal to come by.

In the past these have included domestic fares under $50, $1 fares (limited to minuscule numbers) and next day (or upcoming weekend) tickets. A popular promotion on Grab a Seat the week before Christmas 2007 saw bargain flights to Asia and The USA for those presumably with no plans for the holidays. These fares were offered at roughly 25% of the standard return fare.

Getting a Good Deal

There are several airlines with repetitively offer bargain deals with very limited seats. The pit fall here is that because each fare is offered on a one-way basis, it is difficult to obtain the advertised special price both ways. Travelling for weekends and public holidays is often difficult with bargain deals, as airlines rarely offer seats (or offer a very minute number) for passengers who want to travel to their destination on a Friday, and return on a Sunday.

Probably the most popular discount airfare website is Grab a Seat, run by Air New Zealand, which has specials each day with limited seating. Standard daily specials are offered from midnight each night for the following day, and more promotional specials (eg $1 flights) are offered randomly throughout the day, and may be preceeded with a ‘check back this morning/afternoon' message alongside the route on special.

Pacific Blue, another popular budget airline, offers specials every weekday between 12 and 1pm. Other airlines such as Jetstar, Emirates and Qantas also offer sporadic online promotional fares - many of which are also advertised in the daily papers.

Looking for more information on cheap flights? Find NZ airlines in the NZS.com directory. 

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Travel images from Flickr: My Plane, New Zealand Lake and Dolphin.