Every week
- Jetstar Friday Fare Frenzy: on Fridays from 12pm to 8pm AEST, when Jetstar runs it. Every so often there's a longer Weekend Fare Frenzy running to Monday night instead. (Australian Frequent Flyer)
- Virgin Australia Happy Hour: most Thursdays from 4pm to 11pm Sydney and Melbourne time, but not every week. (Australian Frequent Flyer)
Flash sales are mostly short domestic hops. They're worth a look, but the cheapest seats go within hours.
Through the year
| When | Sale | Past dates |
|---|---|---|
| February | Qantas international sale, covering almost every global route | 3 to 9 Feb 2026 (Time Out) |
| May | Jetstar birthday sale ("Return for Free") | 6 to 8 May 2025; 4 to 6 May 2026 (Time Out) |
| July | Virgin Australia mid-year sale | To 27 Jul 2026, a million fares from A$49 (Time Out) |
| August | Jetstar's big August sale; Virgin's birthday sale; a Qantas domestic sale | Jetstar 21 to 26 Aug 2024 and 19 to 24 Aug 2026 (Time Out); Virgin to 31 Aug 2025 (The Nightly); Qantas to 25 Aug 2026 (InsideFlyer) |
| Late November | Black Friday and Cyber Monday: Jetstar, Virgin Australia and Qantas | 26 Nov to 2 Dec 2025. Black Friday 2026 dates and past sales |
| 26 December | Boxing Day sales | Qantas, 72 hours from 26 Dec 2025 (Daily Straits); Virgin Australia, four days to 29 Dec 2025 (eGlobal Travel Media) |
Qantas doesn't keep a fixed calendar: as well as these, it ran a domestic sale in mid-November 2024 and a pre-Christmas sale ending 12 December 2024. Click Frenzy's 2026 main event ran from 27 to 30 October, with no airline deals in its travel list.
Is a sale fare a good fare?
Often, but not always. Going, the US deal service, says airline sales typically take 10 to 30% off quieter dates on competitive routes and rarely touch popular routes at peak times. A "from" price is for a handful of seats, and "Return for Free" means the outbound fare is the whole price.
So judge a sale fare like any other: compare it with what the same route usually costs on the same dates, and add bags and seats if you'll need them. FarePop does that check for every fare from your airports, sale or not, and only tells you about the ones at least 20% below the usual price. Our guide to telling a good flight price goes further.
How to catch the sales without watching every day
- Join the airline's email list or loyalty program. Jetstar and Virgin have given members early access to some sales.
- Know which airports you'd fly from. Sale fares from Sydney won't help in Perth, and a nearby airport can have a different sale.
- Let the fares come to you. FarePop checks fares from your airports several times a day, so a sale fare that's genuinely well below usual reaches you without a countdown.
