How to fly relatively cheap from Australia to South East Asia
It’s no mystery now that a few low cost flight connections have made this route potentially one of the cheapest in the world. It’d be very nice to be able to leave Australia by land from Darwin port, hop on a boat and be dropped off somewhere around Dili, Timor East, or Kupang, Timor West, and keep on going from there, but unless you are ready to spend a lot of time asking around, that’s not going to happen… I recently met an Italian skipper going out from Darwin to Bali on a yacht cruise, but hell, I had to stay and work my ass off at Superpizza. Maybe next time…
AirAsia X made it easy to get to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Perth (absolutely the cheapest option), Melbourne and Sydney, and those are the cheapest flights, starting at around 80 AU$ including taxes from Perth. Then, there is the low cost option of Qantas, the Australian national air carrier, but honestly it’s not really a bargain compared to AirAsia and Tiger. I’ll be flying out of Darwin to Singapore for 198 AU$ including taxes and a 20 kgs baggage allowance, which is still a fairly good deal, but nothing compared to AirAsia, sorry about that and for myself being stuck here in the Top End.
Of course, take a look at those sites and try to book quite in advance so your ticket will be as cheap as it can be. Jetstar usually has specials to Singapore on Fridays, and a booking made on that day might save you potentially around 50 AU$ on the final fare.
From Perth, besides Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, Jetstar operates a flight to Rangoon in Myanmar and prices are sensibly cheaper than Darwin or Melbourne. The problem sometimes is getting to Perth, tough… the most isolated state capitol in the world requires a good deal of patience and petrol to be reached from anywhere you are in Australia… this said, have a good trip, and see you in South East Asia!!
