Virgin Australia Happy Hour sales run most Thursdays, offering discounted fares on domestic and international flights.
You can often grab the cheapest Virgin Australia flights by booking during the weekly Happy Hour sales. Here’s what you need to know…
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What is Virgin Australia’s Happy Hour?
To help travellers kickstart their weekend, Virgin Australia runs a weekly Happy Hour sale most Thursday afternoons. Discounted fares are available from 4pm to 11pm (Sydney/Melbourne time).
The routes, discounts, and travel dates on offer change each week. Often, Virgin uses these sales to stimulate demand on flights that may not be selling as well.
Happy Hour is separate to other sales. If your preferred destination didn’t pop up in a sale, you might want to wait for the happy hour – there’s a good chance it’ll feature there.
Typical airfare prices during a Virgin Happy Hour sale
During Virgin Australia’s Happy Hour, fares can drop to be comparable to Jetstar. For example, a recent sale featured Sydney-Ballina flights for just $52 one-way — considerably less than the lowest fare usually listed.
Flights under $100 are common on popular routes like Melbourne-Sydney, Brisbane-Cairns, and Adelaide-Melbourne. International routes also pop up occasionally, offering excellent value for trans-Tasman or Pacific island getaways.
Are there any restrictions with Virgin Australia’s Happy Hour?
Happy Hour fares are available on select routes and travel dates. The range of available travel dates can at times be quite limited, and often exclude peak holiday periods. Virgin Australia might also offer sale fares in only one direction, making the return leg more expensive.
Additionally, the prices listed are generally for Virgin’s Economy Lite fares, which include only 7kg of carry-on baggage and no seat selection. If you need checked baggage or want seat selection, you’ll need to pay extra or upgrade your fare bundle. The good news is that you can usually book a Choice fare for around $20 above the Lite sale price.
Booking Lite fares also reduces the status credits you’ll earn on Virgin Australia (at least, it does for bookings made before April 2025). So if you’re looking for Velocity status, it might be worth spending extra on a Choice ticket.
How best to take advantage of the cheap flights
Be ready on Thursday afternoon – you can find all the sale fares for that day on the Virgin Australia website. Subscribing to Virgin Australia’s email newsletter can also ensure you’re notified as soon as deals go live.
Booking quickly is essential since the best fares can sell out fast. Destinations such as Bali are super popular, so if there are sales on these flights they often go quickly!
To get the best value, be flexible with your travel dates and destinations, as the most discounted fares often apply to off-peak times and less popular routes.
If you can’t find a sale fare on a Virgin Australia flight that you want to book, you might still be able to save a bit of money using a Virgin flight promo code. And don’t forget that Jetstar also runs a weekly airfare sale called Friday Fare Frenzy.
