For those in Perth always looking for a better, faster, cheaper way

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Virgin Enticing Qantas Gold and Platinum Frequent Flyers

Virgin Australia Melbourne Lounge

Virgin Lounge Australia is using recent publicity of their new lounges to entice Qantas business travellers.Qantas Gold and Platinum Frequent Flyer members who fly with Virgin from 26/5/11 to Friday 22/7/11 will be entitled to use the Sydney and Melbourne Virgin Australia Lounges for free! Passengers can also access the Sydney Virgin Lounge via the Sydney Premium Lounge Entry which gives them VIP entry into the terminal.

Sydney VIP entry into Virgin Lounge

Where are the Best Places to go with AUD?

In the news, we keep hearing how well the AUD is doing against the US dollar but we don't know how much the Aussie has done against other currencies. Expedia has come out with a list of currencies that the AUD has appreciated the most in the past 12 months so that you know how much you are better off % wise travelling this year as opposed to last year. Enjoy!



Best-value destinations based on how the Australian Dollar (AUD) has performed against major currencies in the past 12 months*
 
 
Rank
Currency
AUD Percentage Gain
 
1
Vietnam (Dong)
+23.11%
 
2
Samoa (Tala)
+19.21%
 
3
Argentina (Peso)
+17.56%
 
4
Turkey (Lira)
+14.32%
 
5
Hong Kong (Dollar)
+12.68%
 
6
United States (Dollar)
+12.62%
 
7
UAE (Emirati Dirham)
+12.42%
 
8
India (Rupee)
+11.42%
 
9
Peru (Nuevo Sol)
+10.98%
 
10
Poland (Zloty)
+10.74%

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Perth to London under $1300 on a Full Service Airline

This was a deal that came to our attention over the emails last week but only was mentioned on Nine News tonight. Malaysia Airlines is offering some ridiculous prices for travel from Perth to Europe with flights to London costing only $1299 return!! I have recently flown Malaysia Airlines and can vouch for their excellent service, leaving Qantas looking like a budget airline (hot face towels, good food etc). Anyway we can argue about airlines somewhere else but one cannot dismiss these deals (Book from http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/my/en/deals/deals-of-the-day.html)


Economy Class
From Perth to

London-Heathrow(Return)
From AUD 1,299
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012
09 Oct 2011 - 17 Nov 2011 16 Jan 2012 - 20 Mar 2012

Amsterdam(Return)
From AUD 1,299
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012
09 Oct 2011 - 17 Nov 2011 16 Jan 2012 - 20 Mar 2012

Frankfurt(Return)
From AUD 1,299
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012
09 Oct 2011 - 17 Nov 2011 16 Jan 2012 - 20 Mar 2012

Paris(Return)
From AUD 1,299
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012
09 Oct 2011 - 17 Nov 2011 16 Jan 2012 - 20 Mar 2012

Rome(Return)
From AUD 1,299
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012
09 Oct 2011 - 17 Nov 2011 16 Jan 2012 - 20 Mar 2012

Dubai(Return)
From AUD 1,299
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012
09 Oct 2011 - 17 Nov 2011 16 Jan 2012 - 20 Mar 2012

Jeddah(Return)
From AUD 1,299
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012
09 Oct 2011 - 17 Nov 2011 16 Jan 2012 - 20 Mar 2012

Dammam(Return)
From AUD 1,299
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012
09 Oct 2011 - 17 Nov 2011 16 Jan 2012 - 20 Mar 2012

Istanbul(Return)
From AUD 1,299
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012
09 Oct 2011 - 17 Nov 2011 16 Jan 2012 - 20 Mar 2012

Johannesburg(Return)
From AUD 1,299
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012
09 Oct 2011 - 17 Nov 2011 16 Jan 2012 - 20 Mar 2012

Cape Town(Return)
From AUD 1,299
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012
09 Oct 2011 - 17 Nov 2011 16 Jan 2012 - 20 Mar 2012

Los Angeles(Return)
From AUD 1,299
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012
09 Oct 2011 - 17 Nov 2011 16 Jan 2012 - 20 Mar 2012

Buenos Aires(Return)
From AUD 1,299
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012
09 Oct 2011 - 17 Nov 2011 16 Jan 2012 - 20 Mar 2012

BUSINESS CLASS
From Perth to

Johannesburg(Return)
From AUD 2,900
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012

Cape Town(Return)
From AUD 2,900
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012

Los Angeles(Return)
From AUD 4,500
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012

Buenos Aires(Return)
From AUD 4,500
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012

London-Heathrow(Return)
From AUD 4,500
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012

Amsterdam(Return)
From AUD 4,500
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012

Frankfurt(Return)
From AUD 4,500
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012

Paris(Return)
From AUD 4,500
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012

Rome(Return)
From AUD 4,500
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012

Dubai(Return)
From AUD 4,500
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012

Jeddah(Return)
From AUD 4,500
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012

Dammam(Return)
From AUD 4,500
All travel must be completed by 31 Mar 2012

Daily Deals Do Disappear - Group Buy Warning

Whilst researching a deal offered by Ouffer, I stumbled upon a discussion raging over a deal that was offered almost a year ago. It was holiday accommodation and what happened was that the company providing accommodation botched their booking system. As a result, Ouffer had to refund everyone in that deal (I guess it was nice of them) but everyone's bookings got cancelled. Now imagine if you booked flights based on this deal, would a refund really help you that much? 


I am not saying that you shouldn't buy from group buy websites (as I continue to do so) like Zoupon and Spreets, just be aware of the risks that you take and take pro-active steps to investigate deals before you JumpOnIt. I'll post later about some successful purchases I've had with Scoopon and other group buy sites but for now, here is the online post by Ouffer to their customers which can be found here


Dear Members,

First off, we’d like to thank you for all your support. Thank you for spreading the word about Ouffer – it’s with your help that we are able to continue to grow. Our Melbourne page is up and running, and we’ll be launching in Brisbane in the next few weeks.

With your continued support, we are able to bring you better and better deals.

As you̢۪re no doubt aware, you are very important to us. Our number one priority is to make sure that all your dealings with Ouffer are smooth (and fun!) experiences. This brings us to the reason for this email.

We do everything within our power to bring you the best activities, sights, tastes, and experiences in Sydney. While we do our best to assess and ensure the quality of the experience before featuring a business on our site, we have little control over the service you will receive from the businesses we feature after you have purchased your vouchers with us.

Unfortunately, one of our recently featured companies has been unable to provide the level of customer service that we demand for our members. We have received numerous complaints that Entire Group (Apartments at Ettalong Beach) has been less than responsive in the booking process.

While we have been in touch with Entire on an almost daily basis over the last few weeks, we have come to the conclusion that the best way to protect our members is to issue full refunds to all those who have purchased this Ouffer.

As mentioned, you are our first priority. We are currently doing all we can to secure another vacation deal. In addition, we will be providing all purchasers of this Ouffer with $10 in credit to use toward future Ouffer deals. Lastly, as soon as we have another vacation offer lined up, we will first make the offer available exclusively to you before opening it up to our other members.

Please accept our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience you have experienced in association with this deal. The refunds will be processed over the next few days. Though we do not endorse Entire Group, you are welcome to contact them directly.

We hope that you remain confident that we always have your best interests at heart, because at Ouffer, it is still together that we save.

Kind Regards,

The whole team at Ouffer