This was published 1 year ago
International airfares from Australia set to rise: TikTok hack for finding cheap flights goes viral
Qantas has just announced another round of domestic capacity reductions and fare increases from July and August.
A post-Omicron travel boom has encountered financial headwinds from rising fuel costs, airline staff shortages and Russia-Ukraine conflict, with experts urging travellers to book airfares sooner rather than later.
Webjet CEO David Galt said that while many travellers have noted a spike in international airfare prices when compared to 2019, this rise isn't necessarily being impacted by the global surge of oil costs just yet.
"With airlines hedging their fuel, these higher prices are being driven by capacity constraints on flight routes as a result of staff shortages amongst the industry," said Galt.
Oil prices are one factor driving up the price of airfares.Credit: James Davies
Airlines are now recruiting and training new staff in an effort to increase capacity across services in coming months, however, this may only help in the short-term.
"It is likely this will be counteracted with the effects of the ongoing high prices of crude oil, which we anticipate will result in fare increases," the Webjet boss said.
Qantas has just announced another round of domestic capacity reductions and fare increases from July and August, after revealing earlier this month that 90 per cent of the group's fuel needs are hedged for the second half of the 2022 fiscal year.
"These additional reductions will progressively flow into industry booking and reservation systems in the coming days," a statement from Qantas said.
Virgin Australia has also warned of slight fare increases to come.
A Virgin Australia spokesperson said: "While inflationary pressures including airport fees, fuel costs and technology costs do mean prices will rise marginally, our fares will remain low and will continue to represent great value for our customers."
Canstar finance expert Steve Mickenbecker said the embargo on Russian oil will not be short-lived, and will be impacting airfares indefinitely.
"Travellers will have to factor this into the holiday budget for some time to come," said Mickenbecker.
Despite the creeping cost of flying, Australians seem to be willing to fork out the extra money on an international trip, with Australian Bureau of Statistics data showing a 76 per cent increase in Australians travelling overseas in April. The number of departures from Australia almost doubled between March and April.
"With the pent-up demand for overseas travel and the enforced holiday savings people have made over the past couple of years, travellers will have a reasonable preparedness to cover the cost of higher airfares," Mickenbecker said.
However, airlines are factoring in the general rising cost of living when hiking fare prices, according to Mickenbecker.
"The price increases come at a time when household budgets are under pressure and mortgage rates are rising around the world, which does put a cap on how big a fare increase travellers will be willing to pay and that the market can absorb," he said.
With households feeling the pinch, Qantas this week launched its first 'fly now, pay later; scheme with company Zip, allowing customers to spread the cost of airfares over multiple pay cycles.
Mickenbecker noted: "The risk though is that this ease of incremental payments can lure people into spending more on a holiday than they can't afford."
Alan Kirkland, CEO of consumer advocacy group Choice, said consumers need to be wary of any 'buy now, pay later' schemes.
"These credit providers are known for targeting people with existing loans, encouraging them to use buy now, pay later loans to pay for essential goods and services, such as food, electricity bills, and rent," said Kirkland.
"For too long, companies have been allowed to sell unregulated loans to Australians. It is critical to fix this loophole in our laws. Expanding this to flights and travel is a step in the wrong direction."
HOW TO SCORE LOW AIRFARES
Travellers have been finding creative ways to keep air travel costs low amid the airline price hikes.
A tutorial showing how to find the cheapest fares for a particular month using Google Flights recently went viral on TikTok, attracting over 50,000 views.
In the travel hack, user @lifeofjazz__ demonstrates how updating your Google Flights search from 'Specific dates' to 'Flexible', and leaving the final destination field blank, can help you narrow down all the cheapest flights and destinations for any given month.
Applying the viral tip to a June Google Flight search, we're able to find cheap one-way weekend flights from Sydney to Melbourne from $44, Melbourne to Adelaide from $52, and Sydney to Brisbane from $71.
Mickenbecker said that while gleaning the cheapest fares from online hacks could save you money, it could have other repercussions.
"You may find that following travel hacks to get low-cost deals to save on airfares could blow out your trip times and potentially see you losing a day of your holiday at the beginning and the end of your trip," warned Mickenbecker.
A lower risk approach, according to the finance expert, is by booking well in advance of your preferred travel date.
"Planning in advance gives you the opportunity to compare for the best deal from a wider field of choice."
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