Reality check please

[snabbu]

Haven't booked a domestic fare for a while and feel I'm missing something.
Looking at a simple Y fare SYD-BNE-SYD departing 19 or 20AUG and returning 22 or 23AUG.
QF lists cheapest SYD-BNE on the 19th $400 (518) with every other flight for the day $450 or more. 20th seems similar.
Coming back looks much the same.
Looking at Virgin, their prices are more of what I was expecting, $150/$200 each way.
AFAIK it's not school holidays during that week and if there was some huge event on I'd assume both QF and VA would be expensive, not only QF.
I always knew QF was a little more expensive but almost $1,000 SYD-BNE return in Y booking 3 weeks out...
What am I missing?

 

[brett-au]

Haven't booked a domestic fare for a while and feel I'm missing something.

Lol! I'm in the exact same bucket. I haven't flown sydney to perth for a while and I thought I'd check the prices. The cheapest (and there are classic redemptions available) is $607 for any day in August. Looking at QF's website it seems they should be selling for $350-ish and Virgin is doing the same day (on the same aircraft type) for $236.

Something seems very broken.

 

[danielt25]

Haven't booked a domestic fare for a while and feel I'm missing something.
Looking at a simple Y fare SYD-BNE-SYD departing 19 or 20AUG and returning 22 or 23AUG.
QF lists cheapest SYD-BNE on the 19th $400 (518) with every other flight for the day $450 or more. 20th seems similar.
Coming back looks much the same.
Looking at Virgin, their prices are more of what I was expecting, $150/$200 each way.
AFAIK it's not school holidays during that week and if there was some huge event on I'd assume both QF and VA would be expensive, not only QF.
I always knew QF was a little more expensive but almost $1,000 SYD-BNE return in Y booking 3 weeks out...
What am I missing?

Try using a different browser or clearing your cookies as i just did a search for you 19/8 SYD/BNE

 

[Isolar]

Had the same experience last week booking SYD-MEL return for this weekend. Cheapest Red-e-Deal round-trip I could get was nearly $700. Made an award booking instead. Just looked at the same flights today and the round-trip price came to $315. Oh well, you can't ever be sure what will happen with fares one way or the other.

 

[snabbu]

Using both qantas.com and via company OTA prices were the same yesterday, today seem back to normal.
Very odd.