Qantas Hikes Up Flight Costs for the AFL Grand Final

29th Oct 2015

With the whole of Australia (at least the football-going part of it) preparing for the Grand Final of the AFL next year, Qantas had some bad news for those who are looking to travel from Perth to Melbourne on that day.

Namely, the carrier has decided to hike up prices to a whooping AUS$3000 for a return flight on the Perth-Melbourne route. That will be a significant increase from the regular one-way price on the route. For instance, on the day before the big game, a one way ticket from Perth to Melbourne will cost AUS$379.

On Thursday and Friday before the AFL final, the price will be AUS$1430 for a one way ticket.

Qantas, however, assures travelers and footy fans it will drop its prices for Melbourne-bound flights on Thursday afternoon for the days before the final game now that the Australian Football League fixtures are known.

A spokesman for the Australian carrier said:

"Fans who think one or both of the WA teams will be in the final will be able to buy a fare from Perth starting at $320 one way once they become available later today. Flights back to Perth from Melbourne after the game will start at $376 one way.

Qantas isn't the only one to price-gouge for the AFL Grand Final, with its closest competitor Virgin Australia charges up to AUS$2579 for a return flight between Perth and Melbourne.

The cheapest flights for the grand final game day will be AUS$1543 with Qantas and AUS$1379 with Virgin Australia.

In response to this, Federal MP Bob Katter accused airlines of being "unpatriotic" for hiking up prices and said:

"There's thousands and thousands of buyers in Perth, and there's thousands and thousands of buyers in north Queensland (for the NRL grand final) but there's only two, arguably three sellers ? that's not a free market."