Heightened sanitation
Daily cleaning, installation of cabin HEPA filters on flights from Sydney to Melbourne
Low season |
February | Best time to beat the crowds (22% less expensive on average) |
---|---|---|
High season |
June | Most popular time to fly (26% more expensive on average) |
Average price round-trip |
$183 | (avg. price over the last 2 weeks) |
Good deal round-trip |
$113 | or less |
Good deal one-way |
$61 | or less |
Emirates, Qantas Airways and Virgin Australia have all waived their change and cancellation fees on flights from Sydney to Melbourne. Confirm policies on booking site.
Delta, Etihad Airways and LATAM Airlines do not allow booking a middle seat on flights from Sydney to Melbourne.
The average direct flight takes 1h 30m, covering a distance of 705 km.
There are 1,593 (direct) flights between Sydney and Melbourne per week, averaging 227 per day.
In the past 3 days, the cheapest one-way tickets were found on Jetstar ($65) and Virgin Australia ($79), and the lowest round-trip tickets have been found on Jetstar ($132) and Virgin Australia ($134).
Emirates (37 times daily), Air New Zealand (24 times daily), Virgin Australia (24 times daily) are the most frequent flyers on this route.
From Sydney to Melbourne, Thursday is the cheapest day to fly on average and Sunday is the most expensive. Flying from Melbourne back to Sydney , the best deals are generally found on Thursday, with Wednesday being the most expensive.
When flying out of Sydney you will be using Sydney Kingsford Smith, often referred to as Sydney Airport. You will be landing at Melbourne, also known as Melbourne Airport.
Parking at Melbourne Airport offers you the choice of value car parks and at terminal parking for the budget conscious driver, while the business car park and premium car park provide the convenience of being closer to the terminals and valet parking is an option for those who prefer more luxurious service.
The Skybus Avalon City Express is the best mode of public transport to Southern Cross Station in downtown Melbourne, but it will take almost two hours to complete the 56-kilometre journey. There is also a taxi rank outside the terminal and a dedicated spot for those using Uber, both of which require about 45 minutes to complete the trip.
Yes, there is the 276-room PARKROYAL Melbourne Airport hotel, which is connected to both domestic and international terminals by skybridge walkways and is perfectly situated for the busy business traveller or short stay visitor. The PARKROYAL Melbourne Airport also has dedicated conference centre and meeting room facilities if required.
Travelling on to Rod Laver Arena after your flight from Sydney to Melbourne? If so, you should know that there is the Jayride Shuttle that connects directly with the venue in about 20 minutes, which takes about the same time by taxi, Uber or rental car. There are also bus and train options, however they are less convenient, even if less expensive.
KAYAK is a travel search engine. That means we look across the web to find the best prices we can find for our users. With over 2 billion flight queries processed yearly, we are able to display a variety of prices and options on flights from Sydney to Melbourne.
KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight to Melbourne from Sydney is likely to change within 7 days, so travelers know whether to wait or book now.
Hacker Fares allow you to combine one-way tickets in order to save you money over a traditional return ticket. You could then fly to Melbourne with an airline and back to Sydney with another airline.
Sometimes travel dates aren't set in stone. If your preferred travel dates have some wiggle room, flexible dates will show you all the options when flying to Melbourne from Sydney up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.
Scores according to KAYAK customer reviews
Pros: "Crew were good but looks like they forgot to serve snacks for few of us at the back, otherwise service was good."
Cons: "Put more attention to customers."
Cons: "flight was delayed"
Cons: "The air pressure in the plane not good causing significant pain I’m my ears"
Pros: "Departure was on time (only fifteen minutes late)."
Cons: "Check-in was a shambles, long lines for bag-drop, despite having booked several months in advance my partner and I could not sit together, the flight and landing was particularly rough, no crew announcements, and our arrival airport was chaotic with no signs indicating which baggage carousel to use for baggage collection. It took us nearly 3 hours to collect luggage and depart the airport."
Cons: "Tight leg room"
Cons: "Seats too close together"
Cons: "Initial temperature was a little low but it improved"
Pros: "On time"
Cons: "Nothing"
Pros: "Take off was smooth"
Cons: "Food"
Cons: "Flight delayed 1:hour 10 minutes"
Pros: "Quick, efficient, all you want and need for a flight to Melbourne."
Pros: "Free wifi is amazing! This is something all airlines need to take more attention of!! Some airlines have ridiculous charges for wifi."
Cons: "Annoying that they didn’t board via the front and rear exit, but this was probably because it was raining. Half the plane boarded via the “priority pass” would be kinda disappointed if I had a high status only to board with half the plane."
Pros: "I hadn’t better snacks on other virgin flights"
Pros: "Politeness of staff Check in"
Cons: "Using the back stairs Inflight wifi Costs"
Pros: "On time and arrived 5 minutes early. Newer 737 plane so seats didn't have that worn look and feel"
Cons: "Only had slices of apple or energy ball."
Pros: "Flight left on time. Staff were very respectful and hospitable"
Pros: "Seemed like a good pilot - that's most important. Modern Plane."
Cons: "1) The boarding from the rear/tarmac/stairs. 2) The officious attendant at check in. 3) The insane rule that a small carry on (that meets all international guidelines) cannot weigh more than 7 kg. 4) The pitiful beverage service (water/juice/coffee/tea) not even sparkling water. The price was high enough - not to have to put up with these issues."
Pros: "Virgin Australia’s staff is some of the most friendly and professional staff I’ve flown with. They go above and beyond to be hospitable. Also, this particular flight was an evening flight and they even had complimentary snacks- not just peanuts but actual crackers and cheese. There was a small delay in the beginning due to crew having to come from another late aircraft but they handled it very professionally and despite starting late, still got us to our destination ahead of schedule."
Pros: "Fast check in, friendly staff"
Pros: "clean planes, easy security, good boarding."
Cons: "flight was delayed - we sat on tarmac with doors"
Pros: "Information on departure delays was forthcoming"
Cons: "The checkin machine kept giving me my fellow travelor boarding pass and not one for me."
Pros: "everiting was on time"
Cons: "food: 1 biscuit for a high ticket price - it is too slim"
Cons: "Had to board from tarmac up steep ladder carrying luggage in 95 degree heat. No assistance available."
Pros: "Gate crew gave us extra seats to spread out and flight was around comfortable. Really enjoyed in-flight TV options"
Cons: "We normally love to check prices on KAYAK and then book directly through airlines which we thought we were doing in this incident. But after we booked we realized a third-party website – Webjet- would be handling our tickets which resulted in many problems. We ended up needing to change our itinerary in a simple way that would’ve been easy to do through the airline but webjet would not accommodate without spending $2500 in ticket fees. To avoid that we had to book additional tickets and take an additional flight that ended up being cheaper but quite the hassle that took way longer"
Pros: "On time. Friendly crew. Smooth landing. All you can ask."
Cons: "Checking in took a while longer than expected. But I was still very happy with the service."
Cons: "30 minutes delayed due to errors in paperwork."
Pros: "Better departure gate, more room onboard, so close to the baggage claim and passenger pickup after landing. I fly to Melbourne often, and generally with other airlines....virgin was like a treat."
Cons: "See above"
Pros: "The falafel wrap (lightly curry) was delicious"
Cons: "We reserved seats together and there were changed without reason"
Cons: "We were delayed transferring because of the Virgin bus being infrequent getting passengers between the international and domestic terminal and almost missed our flights. There was confusion trying to get our bags checked in as they were fast tracking people whose flights were after ours but not us. Then it was awkward being late and last on our connecting flight with everyone glarring at us."
Pros: "Left on time and landed early"
Pros: "Helpful staff"
Cons: "Tiny seats"
Pros: "Flight was ok"
Cons: "The line to bag check was ridiculous and to the door in Sydney."
Pros: "Generally a good flight"
Cons: "Check in & Bag Drop Procedure is very poor. The process needs to be looked at"
Pros: "On time service"
Pros: "Free wine"
Cons: "The plane was delayed. Why. Not quite sure."
Pros: "Good plan, flight and crew"
Cons: "No entertainment. Snack was nut-based, to which my wife is allergic. No alternative."
Pros: "Arrived early"
Pros: "Excellent cabin attendance ratiio to passengers."
Cons: "Seat comfort"
Pros: "Was quick and painless"
Cons: "That we had to go via Sydney wish they were direct to Melbourne"
Pros: "The flight per se was fine"
Cons: "They cancelled our flight and rescheduled us for four hours later midnight before our flight, and as we were on vacation we lost a half day in the airport."
Pros: "Excellent crew & service"
Cons: "Boarding started (& almost finished) before boarding time, sounds silly but ended up being a little stressful"
Pros: "The lounge, flight on-time, courteous staff"
Cons: "Would like more articles in their flight magazine"
Pros: "Generally speaking, I like Virgin Australia."
Cons: "The only problem was we were delayed."
Cons: "Water was the only complimentary drink. And no peanuts or pretzels were included."
Pros: "Plenty of food. Seats a good size , my husband is 6ft 5in and the economy seats were more comfortable than other airlines. The crew werer pleasant and helpful."
Cons: "The movie selection wasn't particularly great."
Pros: "Good food, quick flight, we had a fair amount of space"
Cons: "The hostess forgot to give us drinks and didn't even remember after everyone had been served"
Pros: "Easy to book and check in..."
Cons: "...but they randomly left my bag in Sydney with no explanation, creating very bad experience on a late night flight and causing me to get little sleep that night and following morning and ruining my plans in Melbourne the following day."
Pros: "Could watch entertainment on your own device"
Cons: "Charged for all food and drink, except water, juice, tea, coffee"
Pros: "Friendly service, superb service in peak rush hour. Willing to pay extra to fly with virgin every single time!"
Cons: "Delayed boarding. But wasnt a big deal."
Pros: "Not much"
Cons: "Remote stand boarding"
Pros: "Seat 26A had a faulty back support, with protruding metal spring/wire."
Cons: "Better maintenance"
Cons: "NOT BEING DELAYED - WHICH RESULTED IN ME ONLY GETTING AT HOME CLOSE THE 2AM IN THE MORNING WITH WORK STARTING AT 7AM!!!"
Cons: "Boarding"
Cons: "Delayed so long."
Cons: "Flight was delayed by 45 minutes due to **insert one of many excuses here** and then Jetstar misplaced my luggage ( I arrived at 3 pm into Melbourne and my luggage arrived 10.30pm so I spent one of my two nights waiting for the bag to show up)"
Cons: "All good. Got a great seat with leg room so can't complain. Many thanks"
Pros: "The crew was super helpful, made it easy. The best part was the ease of boarding and sticking to time. Highly effecient."
Pros: "the crew was patient and supportive (both flight and ground crew)."
Cons: "the temperature could have been warmer."
Cons: "Free coffee"
Pros: "The crew were amazing and the seats were super comfy. The Captain was very smooth on take off and touch down, he was also very informative during the flight."
Pros: "Efficient boarding"
Cons: "The flight was nearly 40 mins late"
Pros: "Friendly staff"
Pros: "Efficient, convenient and quick"
Pros: "Flight arrived early"
Cons: "Cramped seats, ran out of cheese and crackers at the beginning of the flight, long walk to get out if the terminal"
Pros: "Nothing."
Cons: "Arrogant flight attendants. Not taking care of the cabin."
Pros: "Modern aircraft"
Cons: "Flight was delayed for no reason at all. Rude staff. Forced a domestic flight to land/take off at an international terminal so we had to go through customs control before taking off and after arrival. Pay some more money and fly Qantas or anything but awful Jetstar..."
Cons: "Flight was cancelled and next available was nearly 4hrs later and left late! And then they have the gall to tell you to board quickly. Emails all about trying to frighten you into paying for extra luggage and sell you mediocre food and pay for a seat allocation."
Pros: "Great price for the flights. Friendly enough plane crew. Plenty overhead storage space."
Cons: "Extra for beverages, food. Seats too close together - hardly any leg room."
Pros: "Not applicable... generic flight with nothing special."
Cons: "Extremely terrible customer service with boarding. Our combined carry-on weight exceeded the 7kg. Fair enough, we paid $60 for check-in. However, the customer service rep was awful towards us and then informed us that they would not be able to put our bag on our flight as we would cause a delay. I have a feeling this was just a decision she made to spite us as there were still ~20 minutes until departure. Well, guess what... our flight was about 15 minutes delayed. I don’t work in the aviation industry, but I assume it wouldn’t have taken 35 minutes to load. Her attitude was awful and she provided zero help when asked how when our luggage would arrive and what the process to claim it is. She simply said “I don’t know, enjoy the flight” with a smug look on her face. Never flying this airline again. Thanks to Jetstar for causing an inconvenience on our honeymoon."
Pros: "jetstar is good interstate and quick and efficient"
Pros: "Efficient and fiendly service."
Cons: "There was no entertainment and none was expected on such a short trip."
Cons: "Horribly expensive bag check in if your bag is over the weight limit. It's $26 online at time of booking, but we found that our carry ons were barely over the size limit, in weight, and we were charged $60 PER BAG at the check in."
Cons: "Seats unusually small. Unlikely to fly this airline again"
Pros: "On time Polite and friendly crew Way better than Qantas"
Pros: "The desk agent told me it would cost 75.00 for one piece of luggage. she was kind enough to try on the internet and I only paid 23.00."
Cons: "They charged twenty three dollars for luggage."
Pros: "the price was cheaper than other airlines"
Cons: "we had to pay to check bags, change flights, etc. also, no free little snacks or movies, radio, etc."
Pros: "The ease of online check-in and printing my baggage stickers upon arrival at the airport. The staff at the check-in desk were lovely, the staff on the plane were lovely; it was great."
Cons: "Nothing. I've previously had very average experiences with Jetstar which made me uncertain about booking these flights but I was completely overthrown by the service turn-around. I'm now a Jetstar advocate."
Cons: "Was suppose to have baggage allowance, but reservation didn't have it and got charged $79. Flight was also delayed for 1 hour"
Cons: "delayed flight and having to take time to get every piece of carry on luggage weighed - having to move 1 kg from one suitcase to another when we were traveling together fro goodness sake"
Pros: "I am traveling from the USA and I had heard some bad stories about JetStar but my experience was really good."
Pros: "The flight was at a convenient time."
Cons: "I didn't like that when I submitted my request to fly from Melbourne that Jetstar flew from 2 airports. I found this confusing and caused a problem since I'm unfamiliar with the area."
Cons: "Charged $285 for 1 checked bag! Wow. SCAM"
Cons: "Had to move from loading gate to loading gate. Changed three times before we got on the plane. Left about 45 minutes to an hour late. Then set on the tarmac for about 20 minutes to 1/2 hour. Arrived in Melbourne after midnight. was unable to get a rental car. All companies closed except 1 and they were out of cars."
Cons: "Well we got there after finding it confusing to get to the airport, got there in time to board, went to put in my information got to the part where I entered to 20 KG baggage and entered it wrong, put down both having luggage, tried to go back on the screen, it didn't work, asked for helped the lady was busy and asked me to hold, as we did, when she came back after 5 minutes, she returned to main screen, which she didn't need to but by the time she went through the whole process again flight had closed arghhhhh $100 extra for next flight, disappointed as you would be.... first holiday,Many tears and disappointed because we were there in time but hey bad luck I was told but being an error, disappointed, by no one cares Judy"
Pros: "The check in agent offered us exit row seats without prompting because my husband is 6'4"!"
Pros: "Very smooth boarding and pleasant on board crew."
Pros: "When we finally worked out where we were suposed to go the staff were very nice. Good diversity of people although nearly all very young."
Cons: "long queues again for checking in and baggage check. No signage for bus to domestic air terminal or even a general direction. Just have to keep asking randome people in flouro jackets where we should go. Then bus very crowded."
Cons: "The fact that my flight has been cancelled just the night before the due flight. It's been a pain to reschedule"
Pros: "The flight crew were friendly"
Cons: "Everything about dealing with jetstar"
Pros: "Everyone was very polite, to compensate for ripping us off on the cost of our luggage... By the kilo!"
Cons: "No info when we purchased the ticket on Kayak that this airline does not charge by the bag, but by the kilo. No chance to buy kilos when we bought the ticket. Got ripped off at the airport. This airline is is for backpackers, NOT for the international traveler"
Pros: "I liked the convenience of the airport and getting on the flight."
Cons: "I didn't like that there are a lot of hidden fees with Jetstar. I didn't realize you needed to purchase bags for the flight and was unpleasantly surprised when we got to the airport and were told it was going to be $160 to get our bags on our flight and that if we would be paid for it a day before it would have been substantially cheaper. Also, nothing was provided for free on the flight-not even water or the entertainment for a 6 hour long flight."
Pros: "Clean and got us there pretty fast."
Cons: "The crew had to move people to the back of the plane to "balance the weight". Never heard of that before. So we sat for 30 minutes while they rearranged the passengers. The flight attendant seemed almost drunk. He kept rambling on the intercom and slurring his words. Very unprofessional."
Pros: "I liked the cost of the ticket."
Cons: "On the hnl syd flight the PA system was so low I couldn't hear a word the flight attendant was saying."
Pros: "The flight arrived in Sydney on time, and the cabin crew was friendly and professional."
Cons: "The check-in procedure, weighing carry-on bags, and the a la carte charges for luggage weight, seat selection, drinks, etc. It is not a good experience and with a 7kg weight limit for carry on items, it is definitely not catered toward business travelers. Would pay more to fly with another airline."
Pros: "Just ok - got us to our destination."
Cons: "Baggage charges, crammed in, screaming babies the entire flight and not even a glass of water."
Pros: "Very friendly check in and welcoming staff"
Cons: "All food and drink had to be purchased"
Pros: "Awful airline."
Cons: "God this was an awful experience. They substituted a small plane for the big plane and bumped 100 people to a later flight with a connection thru an intermediate city, leaving 3 hours later. But that flight got delayed 2 hours so we would have missed our connection anyway and not gotten to our destination until 30 hours later. We spent most of the day standing in incredibly slow lines mislabelled Customer Service. It was nothing of the kind. The whole experience felt like being abused."
Pros: "Nothing you guys totally ripped me off for baggage. I will never fly with you again"
Cons: "No leg room at all..."
Airlines flying from Sydney to Melbourne have enacted additional safety measures and adjusted policies to better accommodate travellers. Policies vary by airline.
Heightened sanitation
Daily cleaning, installation of cabin HEPA filters on flights from Sydney to Melbourne
Mandatory masks
Masks required on board, masks provided on flights from Sydney to Melbourne
Social distancing seating
Middle seats unavailable to book on flights from Sydney to Melbourne
Pre-flight testing
Testing for antibodies, testing for symptoms for flights from Sydney to Melbourne
Flexible cancellations
Waiving of change fees. Search flexible flights from Sydney to Melbourne