Internal flights in Vanuatu

Hey friends

I've booked my flights from Brisbane to Port Vila for August-September. I have not yet booked internal domestic flights from Vila to Santo and Tanna.

According to the LP guide for Vanuatu there are package deals available in Vila with local agencies for flights/accomodation and volcano tours of Tanna. Has anyone found these to be a better deal than booking flights and accomodation separately in advance.

I'll have a few days to chill in Vila before moving on to either Tanna or Santo so not in a rush but wondering how important it is to book domestic flights in advance and whether it might be cheaper from there than here.

thanks in advance

Simon

As far as I can recall those packages were quite expensive, and the only thing they would save you is the "trouble" of having to book a RT flight and a room (with airport pick-up and local tour probably from the same place) yourself.
But just compare once in Vila.

We booked a tour through Melanesian Tours before we arrived in Vila. This was in September of 2006. We were advised to book our Tanna flights ahead of time as that time of the year is busy and flights sell out. We were glad to have had an agency book for us as when we arrived at the Air Vanuatu office to pay for our tickets they had canceled our reservation and the flight was sold out. We did get on the flight as our agent, who had booked the flight, came to our assistance. Our package did not give us cheaper flights but we did get a discount by showing our international flight tickets. I am not sure if we saved any on our accommodation and volcano tour, but with only having 8 days, the security of knowing we had everything already taken care of was worth any extra.