QANTAS: Launches Melbourne to Honolulu, replacing Jetstar

Qantas 787 Dreamliner flights will largely be replacing Jetstar flights between Melbourne and Honolulu from May 2025.

These flights are available to book from today (3 September 2024) and are part of the Qantas North and South America Red Tail Sale. However, ‘sale’ is a broad term, and you won’t find fares that match my Business Class fare to Vancouver with Qantas coming up later in the year. At less than AU$6,500, it is nearly AU$800 cheaper than the current ‘sale’ fare. So there! (flips hair petulantly)

“Our new service ensures continued connectivity for Melbournians to Hawaii, while enabling Jetstar to redeploy its 787 aircraft to other destinations and long-haul routes.”

Cam Wallace, Qantas International

Hawaii Flights

These roughly 10-hour flights will operate three times per week (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) out of Melbourne on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, adding to the existing flights from Jetstar and Qantas out of Sydney (8 times per week). When Qantas commences this Melbourne to Honolulu route, Jetstar will drop its similar route. Looks like Hawaii is moving up from predominantly being a low-cost airline route.

• QF105 departs Melbourne 5:05 pm, arriving Honolulu 7:40 am 
• QF106 departs Honolulu 9:40 am, arriving Melbourne 5:15 pm

Value?

You will also pay more. Jetstar is charging just under AU$4,000 in Business Class and AU$750 for Economy return on this route in April. That pricing depends on what package you choose. Qantas fares run from a little under AU$5,700 in Business Class and as low as AU$1,050 in Economy. So that’s 40% more for economy on Qantas or 42.5% more in the Business Cabin. Whether that is worth it will depend on how you view the difference in service and seat on Jetstar versus Qantas.

Sale destinations

Destinations in the sale are quite diverse and include Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York, Santiago, and Vancouver

The Qantas North and South America Red Tail Sale runs until midnight on Monday 9 September 2024, unless sold out prior.

2PAXfly Takeout

There are some good fare prices in the sale. Not as good as back in March, but still pretty good.

Before you book, always research airfares with other airlines. You can use Google Flights to do this easily. It doesn’t cover all airlines, particularly if they are ultra-low cost, but it does cover most.

Maybe I’ll see you in North America later this year.