Two Southeast Asian carriers have dropped competing sales aimed at Australian travellers this week, and the headline numbers are hard to ignore: one-way fares to Vietnam from $199 and to the Philippines from $308, taxes and fees included.
Vietjet's promotion covers its routes between Ho Chi Minh City and Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, plus the soon-to-launch Western Sydney International service. Eco fares start at $199 one-way, and there's 20 per cent off Deluxe base fares (though taxes are excluded from that discount). The catch is timing: bookings close at 3.59am AEDT on Sunday 11 October 2026, so the window is essentially a weekend. Travel can be booked from 8 October 2026 through to 30 September 2027, with blackout dates and route-specific eligibility.
The sale isn't limited to Australia-Vietnam legs. It also applies to Vietjet's domestic Vietnamese network and other international routes, which opens up the option of pricing an onward flight through the same booking. That matters given the airline's expansion: a new Ho Chi Minh City to Maldives route (via Colombo) starts 5 December 2026 with three flights a week, timed for the Australian summer holidays. There are also new Hanoi services to Prague and Almaty, plus Ho Chi Minh City flights to Clark in the Philippines and Chiang Mai in Thailand. For anyone dreaming of stacking a Vietnam stopover onto a Maldives trip, the December-March Maldives travel window is narrower than the main sale, so check dates carefully. The Western Sydney route only carries the fare from January 2027 onwards, when it begins.
Cebu Pacific's counter-offer is its 10.10 Super Seat Fest, running 8-14 October 2026, with Philippines fares from $308 one-way including taxes. Travel dates run from 1 February to 30 June 2027, conveniently skipping the Christmas and January peak. The airline is pushing Palawan and Siargao hard as add-ons: its Clark services connect to Puerto Princesa, El Nido and Coron for a Palawan loop, while Siargao remains the drawcard for surfers and island hoppers. Just remember the advertised fare only gets you to the arrival point — domestic sectors need separate pricing and workable connections.
The timing isn't random. Vietnam is quietly becoming one of Australia's favourite long-weekend-plus destinations: ABS figures show roughly 567,480 short-term trips there in 2025-26, up almost 16 per cent year on year and 76 per cent above pre-pandemic levels. That puts Vietnam ninth on the list of Australian outbound destinations and closing in on Thailand, which drew about 624,260 trips. Indonesia still leads the region comfortably at nearly 1.78 million.
For travellers, the takeaway is straightforward: two well-timed sales to two of the region's best-value countries, both with long booking windows into 2027. If Vietnam or the Philippines is on your list for next year, it's worth pricing these fares before Sunday morning (Vietjet) or 14 October (Cebu Pacific) — and budgeting for the onward flights that turn a city break into an island one.
