Kiwis can purchase international flights at prices not seen since the start of the Covid pandemic with Air New Zealand’s sale today. 

Shortly before 10am this morning Air New Zealand announced its “Lolly Scramble” one-day sale in an email to its customers. 

The sale has already started and will finish this afternoon. 

“Gather round for the Lolly Scramble. A huge range of international return fares are on sale from 11am- 4pm today, with new destinations added every hour. you’ll have to scoop these sweet offers fast, before everyone does,” the email reads. 

Under the sale, travellers can select flights from Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, or a different region. 

At midday, the Lolly Scramble page on the national carrier’s website showed return economy flights from Auckland to Tokyo, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Shanghai, and Seoul for $899. 

Return economy flights from Auckland to Gold Coast, Sydney and Tahiti are $399. 

For each flight, only certain dates travel dates are available and a card payment fee may apply. 

While airfares outside one-off sales have been coming down, they are still considerably higher than before Covid. 

According to data from Stats NZ, international fares are down 23% on average from its peak, and domestic fares are down 13% – but they are still 50% higher than just before the world went into lockdown. 

The Lolly Scramble sale comes after the recent announcement of other promotions from the national carrier and Jetstar. 

Budget airline Jetstar yesterday unveiled its offer of 30,000 reduced international one-way fares starting at $135 from Hamilton to Sydney. 

The airline will start operations in the Waikato city next June with four flights a week to Sydney and three services to the Gold Coast. 

The sale includes a range of destinations within Australia, as well as the Cook Islands, South Korea, Thailand and Bali, and will run until 11.59pm next Monday. 

At the start of October, Air NZ announced its “Sweepstake” lolly jar competition to give away one million Airpoint Dollars. Kiwis can guess how many lollies are in a giant 4.5m tall jar, which is moved around 11 cities around the country, to win their share of airpoints. 

Participants can also enter the Sweepstake competition online at Air NZ’s website before it ends on October 20.