How to save on every holiday.
Airbnb – Get FREE $50 Credit when you sign up to Airbnb here
Hotels Deals
Agoda can save you up to 75% on hotel deals for trips within New Zealand or around the world.
Cheap Car Rental Deals
Auto Europe compares numerous car rental companies to find you some of the cheapest car rental deals on the planet.
We have used with great success and save $$$ in the Process
Cheap Travel Insurance
1Cover Travel Insurance quote will give you one of the most competitive travel insurance quotes on the market:
Cheapest domestic flights
Find Jetstar allows cheapest flight prices over any 30 day period with their lowest fare finder.
Jetstar now flies to multiple destinations across NZ including between Auckland Wellington, Christchurch & Dunedin plus Palmerston North, Napier, New Plymouth and Nelson.
Air NZ continue to offer great fares with including the GrabaSeat deals which are mostly on offer for under $100.
Booking Flights in New Zealand
The best online sites:
House of Travel
Allows you to book flights with one airline flying out but fly back with a different airline if it works out cheaper to get you a better deal.
NOTE: They charge BOOKING FEE
However you can find the cheapest deals on this service and then going direct to the airlines and booking it yourself but only if flying with the same airline in & out.
Dealfinder finds the cheapest prices across a whole month listed on one page for select destinations within NZ, to Australia, Pacific Islands, Asia or Europe!
NOTE: they only offer flights with select airlines on their Deal Finder but more when you actually try to book.They also charge a BOOKING FEE!
Check out Expedia if you don’t want to pay booking fees!
Other worthy sites:
Expedia has some of the lowest Flight Prices in NZ
Expedia.co.nz
Great deals on Flights, Exclusive deals on Hotels & Special Car rental rates
High Street Travel Agents
FlightCentre 0800 243544 Great due to their “LOW PRICE PROMISE: if you find a cheaper price we’ll beat it!”
Always ask for the cheapest flight price as sometimes will only offer you the ones with best commissions for them.
International flights from New Zealand
The easiest way to book an international flight is to go to your local travel agent. However this may not be the cheapest way. Searching online is now so easy you can check out the competition.
So here are lots of tips & numerous sites to check out prices & the competition!
It’s usually cheaper to buy direct from the airline (If it’s a Direct return eg Auckland- London – Auckland with no stopovers you can often find better deals online).
If you have lots of stopovers or a complicated itinerary go to a travel agent. Most online sites don’t have the facilities to book complicated stopovers (except Air New Zealand’s excellent site).
The following sites compare flight prices in one place to make it easier for you. You can then avoid the booking fee by booking direct with the airline should you want to do this.
MixandMatch.co.nz
Often have good deals on flights, hotels & car rental!
TIPS: A Two one-way fares if flying to Australia maybe cheaper than a return.
eg Fly out on Air NZ but fly back with Emirates.
House of Travel is particularly good at this as they can allow you to fly back on a different airline if it is cheaper.I would usually compare at least 2-3 sites before booking to check their aren’t any cheaper deals.Jetabroad is a site which showing supposedly recently booked deals. It may show some offers you may not have heard about. You can then take this to your travel agent to see if they can get this offer.Jetabroad allow you to put in departure & destination & find what they think is the best deal recently been booked.
Note: Not all travel agents have the same flight deals, so always check around.
For Example:
House of Travel may not have the Korean Airlines earlybird special but may have the Royal Brunei special. They recommend Royal Brunei as its the cheapest they have. You book this thinking this is the cheapest only to find the Korean Air offer in the window at another travel agent!
Moral of the story: Always get quotes from a few different travel agents/companies before you finally book!
Flights to Australia from NZ
There are a few airlines you may not realise fly to Australia as they fly on to further countries. Ie Royal Brunei, Lan Chile, Aerolineas Argentinas all fly to Australia.Remember search the low cost budget airlines as well, as they are often excluded by the big travel agents sites or at their stores! Mix and Match seems to be the best at find both the Budget Airlines eg Pacific Blue & Jetstar but also Lan Chile etc as above.
The main budget airlines flying from New Zealand to Australia:Virgin Australia
Flies Auckland Direct to Brisbane, Cairns, Gold Coast. Melbourne & Sydney. It also flies direct to Pacific Islands: Rarotonga, Samoa & Tonga
Christchurch: Direct to Brisbane & Melbourne & Sydney
Hamilton: Direct to Brisbane & Sydney
Wellington: Direct to Brisbane & Sydney
Dunedin: Direct to Brisbane
Queenstown: Direct to Sydney
Jetstar
Flying to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast.
Bases in Auckland & Christchurch.
International Train Tickets
NZ Train Travel
Some of the best journeys in New Zealand are by train. Find out more at New Zealand Rail.
1Cover Online Travel Insurance
Over 1 Million Satisfied customers! One of the Cheapest travel insurance companies in New Zealand
Cheap Domestic flights deals within Australia
Flying domestically within Australia, flights prices can be compared at:
Webjet.com.au
(remember they can charge a booking fee!)
Only WebJet currently compares Tiger Airlines (which is often the cheapest) but they charge a hefty booking fee unlike Expedia, which doesn’t charge any booking fees.
Cheapest domestic airlines in OZ:
Tiger Air
Often the cheapest in OZ & usually not shown on main travel websites. Competes strongly in OZ (budget division of Singapore Airlines) Operates to & from Melbourne to most major destinations.
Flown by a member of KiwiMoneySavers, with good service
Virgin
Daily specials Happy hours & frequent OZ based specials
Jetstar
They have frequent OZ Based specials on their site.
Note their “Double the difference” guarantee only applies if booking through call centre not internet based
Cheaper flights from Australia to New Zealand
TIP:
A little known info is it can be cheaper to book a one way flight from New Zealand to Australia and then buying a One Way flight from an Australian site than booking a return to & from New Zealand. This is particularly the case when some airlines have a special on one ways to eg Sydney, but what they don’t tell you is that it is the full price back!For example say Air NZ has a special one way Auckland to Sydney but no special returning. Air New Zealand’s or Qantas’ Australian site may have an offer to come back from Sydney to Auckland.You can see if there is a One Way Special from Australia to New Zealand by looking at:
Webjet.com.au Specials
to compare all flights from Australia.
(note prices in AU$)
Travelzoo Australia
Offers to send a weekly email of the best Australian Travel Deals for hotels & flight deals.
For the Current exchange check out: BNZ FX Calculator
International Flight Tips
You can fly into one place and out of another. eg Into London but out of Rome. It saves alot of time and means you don’t have to fly back from London if you’re going round Europe.If flying to Europe check out Round the World Fares. They are often similar in price to a straight return to Europe and means you can often get free stopovers on the way there or back. Or just recover a little from jetlag by having a stopover on the way!
If you are going overseas such as UK or Europe and are making a domestic transfer, it can sometimes be worth looking at local airline sites (ie British Airways in UK or BMI in UK) as they are often cheaper than booking all the way through with Air New Zealand or Qantas.
Eg Fly Auckland to Manchester in the UK.
Air NZ can be up to NZ$350 extra return to fly to Manchester rather than London. Then check flights on British Airways Or BMI UK website and can be from as little as $180 return, a saving of $170!
However it does means having to check in again in London with bags which you often have to do anyway when flying with Air NZ or Qantas as you fly a different airline once at destination country for domestic transfer.
NOTE: Remember to check your baggage allowance as this can vary depending on who you fly with.
The Air NZ flight to UK via USA- 46kg baggage allowance. But only 20kg on UK domestic flight London to Manchester, ouch!) Still it was still over 200 NZ dollars cheaper so was worth doing as I was only carrying 20kg allowance anyway.
Remember flying via USA & South America from NZ often gives you much larger baggage allowance than flying via Asia to Europe, but always check with the airline first that this is still the case, so you don’t get charged that huge excess baggage charges!
Air New Zealand’s Twin Seat Offer
Air New Zealand has offered in the past its Pacific Economy passengers, subject to availability, to buy at check in an extra seat. This can be great if you want extra leg room as prices are very reasonable. NZ to USA, Canada or Asia cost $99 NZD From US to London costs a further $60USD so much cheaper than paying for a business class seat and maybe even pacific premium economy!
Other pages of interest
Baggage Allowances & How to find the best seat on the flight
Round the World Flight Advice
Flying within Europe? Find the Cheapest way to fly
How to Save on Duty Free Shopping in NZ
Find the Highest Rated Airline in the world