Anyone dare to explain?

I quoted direct flight MEL-LAX-MEL and SYD-LAX-SYD from Qantas website. Cheapest economy fare for MEL-LAX-MEL (QF93 and QF94) was $3,732 while cheapest economy fare for SYD-LAX-SYD (QF11 and QF12) was $1,100. Yep, 3.4 TIMES cheaper from Sydney. Anyone has any explanation apart from the fact that Qantas utterly hate Melbourne? They perhaps hate more only Adelaide.

Supply/demand and complex algorithms

What kind of generic BS is that! Why on the earth I will pay extra 2.5k when I can catch flight MEL-SYD-MEL by QF for mere $300 or so? Or even less by JQ? Heck, they even selling MEL-SYD-LAX-SYD-MEL on QF website for almost the same money as SYD-LAX-SYD! Now if people really paying $3,732 for MEL-LAX-MEL (I doubt) then why QF not put A380 on MEL-LAX-MEL route and make tons of money out of it? All this crap IMHO make no sense whatsoever.

It may be that there is more demand for non stop LAX ex MEL due to lesser seats? Not many would cross check out of other cities and just buy. It is a no brainer to always get a price out of sydney (i live near brisbane) due to higher competition/seats!

Qantas hates Melbourne is pretty much on the money. Their entire operation is Sydney centric, I've not seen a disparity at quite that level before, but it does seem pretty consistent that international fares out of Melbourne will be more expensive, and the timetabling will probably be less convenient.

Sounds like an airline run by accountants (oh yeh it is) that think they can get away with anything and that the travelling public are just plain dumb.

Some will get caught out and pay the higher price because QF is our national carrier and they really do look after us! Those more astute, like Serge, will think, hey that’s a bit rich and dive a little deeper.

You do realise there are other airlines?

This is not the point and BTW out of Sydney QF quite competitive. Also QF is ONLY flying directly from MEL to LAX.

United also flies from MEL-LAX so are other direct options. Qantas flies both MEL-LAX and MEL-DFW with more seats available from Melbourne direct to North America than all other carriers combined.

If the flight is near full on that day the tickets cost more. It's fairly universal across all airlines to stop discounting when the seats are almost gone at their highest demand.

need more competition on aus-us routes.... aus to europe is much better because you have the asian and middle eastern airlines all competing

Your explanation as well as others is great, but still does not explain such massive difference. On the same date dummy booking MEL-SYD-LAX-SYD-MEL was about $1,200 or so. Thus who going to pay 2.5k to avoid flying via Sydney when for last 3 decades all aviation was driven but cheapest possible tickets and especially so in Economy?

My work travel is generally booked with flexible fares rather than discount fares. I would imagine both MEL-LAX and SYD-LAX are around $3.7k in flexible economy.

SYD-LAX has more competition and more seats than MEL-LAX. The day you quoted may have had only a handful of seats left on those particular flights. There are literally dozens of reasons why prices may be different that are more likely than Vanessa Hudson trying to scratch the eyes out of a photo of Melbourne for... reasons? Nobody has ever been able to convincingly explain why Qantas apparently hates Melbourne beyond "I should have more non-stop flights than Sydney!" as if these things aren't determined by a range of cold hard financial calculations.

Again, all you are saying is true and understandable. Though it still does not explain such huge difference. And "cold hard financial calculations" shows that there are plenty of opportunities to earn money by flying from Adelaide to overseas, but somehow not for QF.