Geelong v Sydney AFL grand final: Flight fares to Melbourne skyrocket

With few seats remaining on footy finals flights, airlines are demanding eye-watering prices for diehard AFL fans hoping to make their way to Melbourne.

Virgin and Qantas stand to do very nicely from the footy finals, with eye-watering fares being charged for remaining seats. Picture: Brenton Edwards/NCA NewsWire

Footy fans yet to book a flight to Melbourne for Saturday’s AFL grand final should expect to pay more than $1000 for the return trip from Sydney.

With precious few seats available on Saturday morning, fares start from $759 on Virgin Australia, and $778 on Qantas with the return trip on Sunday only slightly less expensive.

Even flights on grand final eve are almost booked out, with the cheapest fare available $380 on Jetstar, rising to $449 with Virgin or $499 with Rex.

The cheapest Qantas seat available on Friday is a “flex fare” for $585 climbing to $998 for business class.

Most people planning to attend the Sydney-Geelong grand final were believed to have already booked, with Qantas reporting a huge response to its “points plane” scheduled for Friday.

Virgin and Qantas stand to do very nicely from the footy finals, with eye-watering fares being charged for remaining seats. Picture: Brenton Edwards/NCA NewsWire

Made available for sale after the Swans win over Collingwood on Saturday, the flight sold out by morning, with almost half of the seats bought using frequent flyer points.

A Virgin Australia spokeswoman said the airline had added an extra 20 return Sydney-Melbourne flights between September 22 and 28 to help meet demand.

The Sydney Swans and Geelong Cats will go head-to-head in the 2022 grand final at the MCG. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

“Virgin Australia has been the official airline partner of the AFL since 2011, transporting players, coaches, league officials and support staff on more than 350 flights or 27,000 seats, carrying more than 300,000kg in club cargo in that time, while sharing the magic of the game all over the country,” the spokeswoman said.

Flights heading to Townsville for Friday night’s NRL preliminary final between the Cowboys and Parramatta were also in big demand, and similarly priced.

Services operating from Sydney via Brisbane to Townsville on Friday cost from $580 with Qantas and from $756 on Virgin.

Qantas also offered an option via Adelaide for $2052 or via Melbourne for $1428.

Heading back on Saturday, airfares were a more affordable $320 with Jetstar or $415 with Qantas.

The cheapest Virgin flight on Saturday cost $759 with only a handful of seats still available.

As well as the footy finals, airlines were expecting huge demand from travellers heading off for the New South Wales school holidays starting on Friday.

Passengers have been assured intensive recruitment into operational roles by airlines and airports reduced the likelihood of major disruption or delays.

After posting the worst on-time performance and cancellation rates on record in previous months, Qantas and Virgin claim to have turned things around in recent weeks.

In August, Qantas landed 72.7 per cent of flights on time and Virgin managed to keep 67.7 per cent of services on schedule, according to aviation analytics site OAG.

Originally published as Geelong v Sydney AFL grand final: Flight fares to Melbourne skyrocket