Last minute travelling and Jetstar

[NZ]

I'd just like to share my experiences with travelling at the last minute. Last week A family member who I was quite close to went downhill quite suddenly after spending the last couple of years fighting breast cancer which had spread to her liver. The funeral was only last thursday and it was only 7 days before that, that we were told things weren't good.

This presented me with a few problems,

A: my passport had been damaged and I hadn't done anything about getting a new one. I sent my apploication away on friday on express and the NZ passport office (which is in sydney) got it that day. I rang them the next monday and explained the situation so they fast tracked it ($350!!) and said they could send it out that night. My problem was I had already booked tickets to fly at 8am on wed morning so if it did not get back by the next day I would nt beable to fly. I called the wonderful people at Aust post and explained to this sheila the situation and she assured me it would be in my mailbox on tuesday. Her reply after I asked was simply ' Yes it will be there' which did not convince me so I called my local post office who told me that there was no way I would get it back in a day. 2 days yes, but not a day. I was happy that they were up front. My only option then was to travel to sydney in person (from melb) and pick the thing up.
I logged onto Jetstars website and within 5 minutes I had myself booked to fly to sydney and back on the same day. I was flying out of avalon airport at 8 am to arrive in syd at 9:10 and returning to avalon leaving syd ay 2:30 arriving 3:30.
I had some reservations about using jetstar from what i had heard of them in the past about people not getting on planes because of overbooking and not being offered refunds and generally people had described it as a rat race to get on a flight. I booked anyway and hopped for the best.
The next morning I drove to avalon which instantly saved me probably 45 minutes travelling time. Car parking at avalon is $15 per day and $5 there after. I know parking long term is $35 for the first day at melb airport.
Checking in was easy just show some id. They have a simple boarding system. People with kids, disabilities or perople that pay the premium fare get an orange borading pass. People who check in early get a blue pass and a boarded 2nd, everyone else gets a silver pass and are boarded last. There is no allocated seating basically get on the plane and find a seat. You don't get snacks or refreshments for free, but you can buy them. The planes have an audio system which if you want the headphones you pay $3 and they are yours to keep. They have been advertising that the new airbus a320's have leather seats, but really its just a gimmick as I beleive all of the a320's be it qantas, airnz etc have leather seats Leather seats don't make them any more comfier, its just easier to clean them. The flight left on time and the return flight was as easy as the first and I am really happy with that I got for my money. The trips cost $158 return which is pretty damn good.

On to my next peice,

I booked my flights to NZ through a outfit called LastMinute. Their website is www.lastminute.com.au I had been at the travel agents trying to work out flights and had not really been happy with what they had worked out. After looking on individual airlines websites for myself I spotted the link to this site on a google search. Basically what they do is airlines give them special rates on seats of flights that are not fully booked that would otherwise go to waste. Ypu put in the day you want to fly, the place of departure and ariveal and it comes back to you with all the options. For my flights MEL - IVC I got 26 different options. Prices ranged from $555 to over $1000 depending on what seats were avalible , what airlines were used and wether I wanted to have a overnight stay on the way. They also include the taxes in the price.

My cheapest option without an overnight stay was $892 which $155 of that was airport taxes. So again out came plastic fantastic, add $15 for electronic ticketing and $9 booking fee, I was set. 30 minutes later a confirmation email was sent, all I had to do was turn up to the check in counter with photo ID.

In the end I had to fly Melb - auckland - christchurch - invercargill on the way there and invercargill - christchurch - melb on the way back. I had the option of going to christchurch straight out without going to auckland but the connecting flights to invercargill were all the same flight since theres only one or 2 flights there so instead of waiting in christchurch for hours I decided for another $12 I may as well go to auckland and catch up with a mate there. Plus I like the whole taking off and landing. The in between bit is incredibly boring however.

Anyway I recommend Jetstar for no frills travel and I highly recommend www.lastminute.com.au for booking airline tickets