The Cost of (Not) Going to Australia

Two days ago I noticed a Facebook post about a $500 flight to Australia.

News got around: later that day, my boyfriend sent me the same link. Further research revealed that you could actually get an open jaw flight for just $380 if you flew out of one of the smaller U.S. hubs and back through Los Angeles.

Since flights to Australia regularly run at least $1500, these prices were pretty incredible. It seemed to be some kind of ploy by United to undercut Delta. Anyway, it was cheap. My boyfriend and I hemmed and hawed and looked at other travel we had planned — out to Boulder in June for a wedding, to Halifax to see his parents — and ultimately decided we couldn’t make it work.

I am currently steeped in regret. I am a bitter, oversteeped regret teabag. Yes, we would have had to drive to Detroit from Toronto to get the flight; yes, the travel would be at least 36 hours each way (the flights had 2 stops); yes, we would have needed to go for at least 15 days to make the whole thing worth it and no, neither of us have the kind of money that would make that feasible. Still, it somehow seems like we missed out on the chance of a lifetime.

My question is: how do you guys make these decisions? As a budget(ish) traveller, where do you look for flights and how do you decide when to buy? What are you willing to sacrifice in order to get a better price? Do you plan trips in advance or do you just keep an eye out for these crazy deals and plan around those? This regret teabag is doing it wrong. Please enlighten.

(And if these tickets are still around, go to!)

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