BNEA
I fly to LA from Melb every 2nd year in early Jan so keep an eye on prices.
I get a stream of emails from Qantas, weekly with special offers incl these type.
However, as Stalins said, probably marketing doing a job using a loss leader, short time offer.
GF went to book flights to Adelaide the other day, advertised $39 each way. It was $99 each way by the time you added all the charges.
I reckon $1499 would be $2000 by the end f the transaction !