Australia is an expensive travel destination to reach from the USA with airfare typically over $1,000 round trip. One ticketing strategy to significantly reduce the high ticket price is flying to southeast Asia where ticket prices are available for under $500 and then fly from Kuala Lumpur with AsiaX or Singapore with Scoot or Qantas partner Jetstar to Perth or Sydney for $200 to $300 round trip.
This might seem like you are flying many more miles for a trip to Australia, but it is actually only 1,734 miles longer from Los Angeles to Perth, Australia via Shanghai and Singapore compared to flying via Sydney. And hundreds of dollars less in airfare.
- LAX – Shanghai PVG – Singapore SIN – Perth PER = 11,263 flight miles.
- LAX – Sydney SYD – Perth, Australia = 9,529 flight miles.
1,734 additional miles with three flights to fly LAX to Perth via Asia compared to two flights and several hundred dollars more via Sydney.
ExploreTrip.com online travel agency ticket for China Eastern flights
Los Angeles LAX – Shanghai PVG – Singapore SIN – Shanghai PVG – Los Angeles LAX
$418 round trip Tue March 14 – Tue March 28
The $418 ticket price through an online travel agency is only $20 less than purchasing a ticket directly from China Eastern Airlines.
China Eastern Los Angeles LAX – Shanghai PVG – Singapore SIN – Shanghai PVG – Los Angeles LAX
$438.20 round trip Tue March 9 – Tue March 28 Economy Q booking class only earns miles with China Eastern.
Scoot Airlines Singapore – Perth, Australia nonstop
$203.10 USD (288.29 SGD) Sat March 18 – Mon March 27
$641.30 round trip Los Angeles LAX – Singapore – Perth.
Scoot checked bag = 82.55 SGD round trip = $58.16 USD.
Total ticket price with one checked bag LAX-Perth = $699.85 round trip.
Jetstar, a Qantas Airlines low cost carrier partner, also flies nonstop to Perth.
Jetstar Singapore – Perth, Australia
$218 USD round trip Thu Mar 16 – Mon Mar 27
Ticket price is a few dollars more, but bag fees are less on Jetstar. Since Scoot, Jetstar and Asia X (via Kuala Lumpur) all offer one-way flights between Singapore and Perth priced in similar range, your choice can be based on most convenient flight schedule.
Jetstar bag fee is as low as 30SGD ($21.14 USD) for SIN-PER flight.
Jetstar and Scoot fly to other airports around Australia like Sydney, Gold Coast, Melbourne.
Scoot Singapore – Gold Coast, Australia OOL (Queensland)
$104.30 USD (148 SGD) Friday March 17 one way
Intra-Australia flights along the east coast from Brisbane to Melbourne are frequently priced under $50 USD.
TigerAirways Gold Coast OOL – Sydney SYD one way
$44.00 USD one-way ($59 AUD with bag) Tue March 21
Scoot Airlines Sydney – Singapore
$180 USD ($241 AUD with checked bag) Mon March 27
Total Itinerary: $766.50 LAX – SIN – Gold Coast, Australia – Sydney – Singapore – LAX
- $438.20 Los Angeles LAX – Singapore SIN China Eastern
- $104.30 Singapore SIN – Gold Coast OOL Queensland, Australia Scoot
- $44.00 Gold Coast – Sydney TigerAir
- $180.00 Sydney – Singapore Scoot
Add another $100 for departures from San Francisco.
Low fares LAX/SFO to Singapore are available through May 10, 2017.
Loyalty Traveler curated Airfare Deals and Google Flights and Kayak Explore tutorials.
