Time to get back in contact with friends in Etihad since they are the only option for us to get some tickets that are actually useable now that HR have decided to 'improve' staff ticketing!
Leave tickets are now rendered useless & buying ID50 with other carriers seems inpossible through GF since when you go into staff travel they say that the flight is blocked. However I managed to get an ID50 ticket on the same flight through an Etihad friend.