Great deals on flights to Australia

Maybe it’s because I am headed to the Land Down Under myself in just about a week, but lately I have been seeing some truly fantastic deals on flights to Australia. With some round-trip fares from LA starting at just around $600, I have regularly been astonished that you can now get to the other side of the world for well under a grand—especially when flights just a year or two ago seemed to hover around $1500-$2000. Students save $150 of V Australia flights from Los Angeles to Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. Savings based on $515 Student only airfare compared to $665 published fare. Available only at www.statravel.com. Must book by May 31, 2009 for travel by September 21, 2009.

As it turns out, there is a reason behind the recent dip in prices that is not directly related to the shitty economy. Virgin Airlines recently started service between Los Angeles and Sydney—which put it in direct competition with Aussie airline Qantas. This means that Qantas is now being forced to compete with Virgin’s deals and is making it a whole lot easier to score a deal on cheap airfare to Australia. Virgin recently advertised especially low fares, with a recent promo sale on Virgin advertising Los Angeles to Brisbane or Sydney for just $527 round-trip.

So, how was Qantas countered this low-fare move by Virgin? They’ve lowered prices right back. Lucky for the consumers, this means you can now find deals on Qantas for airfare from LA to Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne WITH a free stopover in Auckland, New Zealand starting at just $229 each-way.

Other Australia deals:

Sydney 3 nights hotel deal from $229/person

7-day land and domestic flights to Great Barrier Reef starting at $1,199/person

San Francisco to Sydney for $748 round-trip