Flight Hack: Combine Tickets, Get to Penang, Malaysia from AKL/CHC/WLG from ~ $795 Return, 5* Hotel fr $86pn @ Beat That Flight

Ok, so this takes a little bit of explaining.

First up, let's take the sample date and on a single booking, say Auckland to Penang return - you're looking at around $1577 return. $1653 from Christchurch.

So let's try and halve that, roughly. I'll look at Christchurch as the example, but the same logic can be applied to any center.

A flight is possible from Melbourne to Penang from $278 Return. That's interesting. See here for a full list of example cheap prices.

Now, if we bookend that with two one way flights, maybe we can do better.

The issue here is the early departure time from Melbourne. It leaves Melbourne at 12.50pm, and fortunately Melbourne airport has a quite short MCT (minimum connection time). You don't want to risk tight times in Sydney, Brisbane or Auckland.

So two options, let's give an example from Christchurch, where we fly Emirates to get in at just before 8am. That's plenty of time, and costs $287.

Coming back to Chch is easy, as the Penang to Melbourne flight gets in at 7.30am so you can pick just about any flight after that. I've selected the cheap redeye at $301.

$287 + $301 + $281 = $869 Return! Not quite half tho…

You can do it for less IF you're prepared to say, fly the previous day to Melbourne and just hang in the airport overnight. But that can be painful and cost in food. But cheapies, this is the way. So that makes it $213 to MEL…

$213 + $301 + 281 = $795! Return! We did it!

Anyway, hope this helps someone. It was fun to work out :)

edit:
In Penang, I've found a discounted 5-star hotel - the Evergreen Laurel Hotel Penang, from $86 a night, which seems pretty awesome.

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