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Should I go to a Travel Expo? Yep absolutely! There’s heaps of bargains to be had like a trip to LA for a family of 4 for UNDER $3000! Our first trip to the US was booked at a Travel Expo!

(Read up on my post about the pros and cons of going to a Travel Expo as well as using a travel agent to book your holiday or doing it yourself! You can click ‘Here‘ to go to that post after you finish this one.)

I attended the Melbourne Travel Expo that was organized by Flight Center on the 10/08/15. It was a 1 day event held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Center and the purpose of my visit was to see what kind of deals they were offering. Prior to going, I researched the different airlines to see what deals they had. The first thing I’ll let you in on is the prices at the Travel Expo were not available on any of the airline websites so from that point of view, it’s worth going. What I also found out is if you couldn’t get to the Travel Expo on the day, you were able to book in a time at your local Flight Center, Escape Travel or Student Flights and you’d get access to the Travel Expo special pricing.

So what did I find? There were some really good deals to the US. These are the ones that really stood out!

  • Qantas family deal (2 adults & 2 children under 12) for $3478. This price was for dates between 6th October 15 – 30 November 15 and 18th January 16 – 12 March 16. Paying by credit card added an additional fee.
  • Virging family deal (2 adults & 2 children under 12) for $2939 (wow). This price was for dates between 6th October 15 – 30 November 25 and 31st January 16 – 12 March 16. Paying by credit card added an additional fee.
  • Air New Zealand had a good offer for families with kids under 17. Adults were $940 per person and kids were $753. That would make it $3386 for a family of 4 with kids under 17. Dates for these flights were 29th October – 26th November 15, 13th Feb – 17th March 16 and there were a couple of other dates as well. Paying by credit card added an additional fee.
  • United had return economy flights direct from Melbourne to LA from $921 per person. This was on the new 787-9 Dreamliner which I have had the pleasure of flying on. You can check out my review of the flight ‘Here‘. Paying by credit card added an additional fee.
  • Jetstar had a good deal flying to Hawaii from Melbourne between 3rd Feb -20 March and 13 April – 30th May 16 for $739 per person. This included 20kg of checked baggage, meals and in flight entertainment. You would normally have to add these items to the base fair. For $100 more, you could fly  between the 13th October 15 – 9th December 15.

There were also other deals through Disney Resorts, Crystal Cruises, Infinity, Intrepid tours, Trafalgar as well as deals on suitcases, accommodation and insurance. It certainly caters well for all your travel needs.

So for me, the question is – are these deals the best deals you can get, or can you get better deals throughout the year? From my experience, if you keep your eye out, there are better deals to be had throughout the year. As many of you would know, I booked a Melbourne to LA flight through United for $800! You couldn’t find that price at the Travel Expo.

In summary, attending a Travel Expo is worthwhile if you are thinking of travelling to the US and want more information, want to see what kind of prices you’ll be paying, want to actually book a trip or anything else to do with travelling to the US. If you do plan to go, following these points will help you be as prepared as possible

  • Do some research on where you want to go
  • Know when you want to travel keeping in mind that there will be restricted dates
  • Know how long you want to go for
  • Speak to your boss about getting time off
  • Get to the ‘Travel Expo’ early. There are limited seats available so first in best dressed
  • Bring your passports
  • Be prepared to pay a deposit on the day and realize that you will have to pay the whole amount within a few days