Sydney couple are Club Jetstar’s most travelled members

A Sydney couple are Jetstar’s most travelled members after having visited every destination on the airline’s network, while saving a huge $20,000 on flights.

A Sydney couple are Jetstar’s most travelled members after having visited every destination on the airline’s network — there’s 34 in total — and saving a huge $20,000 worth of flights in the meantime.

Like everyone, Julia and Josh Brown, from Picton, NSW, love a bargain especially when it comes to flights — so when the budget airline launched their loyalty program Club Jetstar a decade ago, the pair pounced at the opportunity to sign up.

In that time, they have saved a huge $20,000 on flights after taking advantage of perks and exclusive member offers including kids flying for free sales.

Over the past two years alone they visited 13 destinations and saved $3,000 on flights in 2022.

In total, Jetstar has 22 national and 12 international destinations.

Julia and Josh Brown, with their three children ages 12, 9 and five.

“It’s just the affordability aspect which for us just means were able to travel to destinations that we normally wouldn’t because of the cost,” Julie told news.com.au.

The pair, who have three children aged 12, 9 and five, have flown to every destination on the airline’s network except two — Rataronga in the Cook Islands and Seoul, South Korea, although flights to those locations have now been locked in.

“As a family-of-five it can get really expensive but we just wait and book discounted airfares,” Julie told news.com.au.

Admittedly, she said sale seats can go pretty fast, so it’s matter of stalking the airlines’ social media for when prices drop and also setting up alerts.

The pair are Jetstar’s most travelled members.

“My husband is always on alert for the sales and will snap up the most incredible deals,” Julia said.

“We find it difficult to have time as a couple with three young children so we use the Club Jetstar sales to book one night away trips and have gone on some epic date nights for 24 hour stints a few times.”

Julia said they recently had a “date night” in Uluru when flights dropped to just $19 — and were able to tick off Sounds of Silence dinner from their bucket list.

“We thought we could spend a night in Sydney for the same price or just travel somewhere else in Australia.”

They did the same thing for the Hamilton Island, spending a night at the popular destination after snagging flights for $29 in February this year.

When it comes to travelling with the kids, the pair aims for two overseas trips and two local holidays a year.

“We both have standard jobs so we use public holidays to stretch out our leave. We either do a longer two to three week holiday or two one week overseas trips, plus we will do a few shorter domestic trips a year,” Julie said.

They have visited every destination on the airline’s entire network and since joining Jetstar’s loyalty program 10 years ago, they have saved $20,000 on flights – it costs $55 annually.

The mother-of-three is an early childhood teacher while her husband is a project manager in construction.

“We believe in working hard and travelling often. We are both busy working parents so holidays for us are a way switching off from life and connecting with our children and creating some life long memories,” Julie said.

“We are adventurous and spontaneous when booking trips and we want our children to see more of the world and share out love of travelling.

“Usually my husband will call me and tell me there is a sale somewhere and we just book it if it’s a good deal.”

Julie said as busy parents, going on holiday helps them switch off from life and create memories with their children.

Julie said her eldest daughter, who is now 12 years old, has been to more than 20 countries.

“We did a lot of travel with her before the age of two and again when my second child was born before he turned two (to save money on the extra airfare),” she said.

“Even though they may not remember everywhere they have been, we will never forget those memories.”

Julie said their favourite trip so far has been to Japan, where she and Josh had initially met.

“We met in Japan on a high school exchange program when we were 15 and we took the kids back there in July to celebrate our 20th anniversary together.

“As family we all loved everything about Japan. It’s probably the best place we have ever taken the children.”

She also loved Vietnam for the “food and beaches" and domestically named-dropped Rottnest Island, off Perth.

“We currently have a domestic trip booked for January from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast and have booked to stay in Noosa and are planning on ticking K’gari (Fraser Island) off our Australian bucket list,” the mother-of-three said.

Japan has been their favourite trip. It is where Julie an Josh first met and recently took the kids to celebrate their 20th anniversary.

“We also have a trip booked from Sydney to Seoul for July 2024 — we are planning on travelling from there to Tokyo to do the things we missed on the last trip like Disney Sea. We haven’t booked our trip home yet.”

Meanwhile, Jetstar is gifting them a family a trip to the Cook Islands for their loyalty to the airline, which will see them complete the entire Jetstar network

When asked about whether they’ve experienced any hiccups with the airline such as delays and cancellations, Julie laughed and said while there’s been a few, it hasn’t bothered them too much.

“At times there’s been delays but that’s part of travelling. We have flown with other major airlines and have had the same amount of hiccups,” Julie said,

“Sometimes it’s worked to our advantage,” she said, recalling a time they arrived at the wrong airport in Japan and the two-hour delay bought them enough time to get to the correct location.

She offered handy tips for Aussie families keen to travel with kids in tow, suggesting to plan trips around public holiday dates to maximise our days off without using as much leave.

“Book early to save more, jump at the sales,” she said. “We have used the return for free, kids fly free and Friday fare frenzy to get the most out of our deals.

“We travel mid week or leave early in the morning to get the better sales or come home late at night to save another hotel cost but getting the most out of our days away.”