New Booking Site for Down Under

Originally published in The New York Times on 3/29/2010. Read the original here.

Need to get from Alyangula to Wagga Wagga?   A new online travel site, Wotflight.com makes it easier to search for flights within Australia.

Started last month, Wotflight searches for flights among Australia’s 100 or so commercial airports, including domestic airlines like Aeropelican, Brindabella, Airnorth and Skywest that other booking sites might miss.

In some cases, it seems to find better deals.  A recent search on Wotflight for a one-way ticket next month from Canberra to Newcastle found on Brindabella fare for 199 Australian dollars (about $180).  Kayak’s lowest was a $232 flight on Virgin Blue.

“We have a real focus on regional Australia with one of the biggest ranges of Australian airlines available to book online,” Megan Magill, a Wotflight spokeswoman said in a statement.

But Kayak fared better in other cases.  A search on Wotflight for a roundtrip ticket from Sydney to Melbourne in April found a Virgin Blue flight for 181 Australian dollars.   Kayak found a cheaper ticket, 144 dollars, on Jetstar, an airline Wotflight does not currently search.  Wotflight also adds a booking fee of 16.95 Australian dollars.

Posted on May 29, 2010 to New York Times
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