Allocating 1,500,000 domestic seats to the program, Qantas is offering highly discounted airfares to Internet customers on a limited range of services. However, across the broad range of tickets available to travellers Qantas appears to be giving little incentive to customers to purchase online.
On some routes the discount for Internet customers is clear and substantial. For instance, travellers flying for Melbourne to Sydney on May 1 can expect to pay a GST inclusive base fare, before other levies and taxes, of AU$77; those that front-up to Qantas's conventional booking systems will pay AU$200 before additional charges.
If you wish to fly from Perth to Sydney on the same day, and use the Internet booking engine, the savings are even more substantial. For offline customers the base fare is around AU$540, whereas Internet customers can cash-in on a AU$242 ticket for the same journey.
However, such tickets appear to be isolated examples. In most cases Qantas e-customers pay about the same as offline customers and in some cases appear to pay more.
For instance a Sydney-Melbourne flight booked for May will cost AU$97.96 over the counter, representing a base airfare of AU$70. Qantas e-customers are offered the same ticket at AU$77 inclusive of GST, but before other taxes and aviation levies.
Once the levies and charges are paid, online buyers could end up paying more than their offline counterparts. The levies include the AU$10 Ansett levy, insurance surcharges that increase with distance travelled and other charges which Qantas divulges "when booking details are entered".
Qantas will take bookings for its discount flights between May 1 and June 30, which operate between May 1 and September 20.
"For instance a Sydney-Melbourne flight booked for May will cost AU$97.96 over the counter, representing a base airfare of AU$70. Qantas e-customers are offered the same ticket at AU$77, before taxes and airport levies."
Qantas is the bash du jour, despite the facts! I'd suggest that the base fare in both cases is $70; the internet quote includes $7 GST, as is legally required, and the counter quote has been netted down. If you want to write a story about pricing which involves various taxes and levies, surely you could do at least a little work on the detail? Is an accurate follow up too much to ask?