Urgent flight to Sydney help required

[harrogate]

This is a long shot, but here goes.

My best friend got a call from Australia this morning from her long-term boyfriend's flatmate (her boyfriend's a French citizen working in Oz) to say that last night her boyfriend was wiped out by a car while crossing the road in Sydney city centre.

He's very seriously injured and the hospital have advised my friend that it would be a good idea to travel to Oz and see him. Without being too grim, that's obviously not good. Another call then came in literally within seconds from her Mum to say her Gran's got cancer and is being operated on on Monday. Talk about a morning from hell.

We've tried out darndest between us, but we just cannot lay our hands on the £1200 for a flight to Oz for her until Tuesday at the soonest. Anyone know where we can get a cheaper flight than this in the meantime? All suggestions welcome. We don't expect charity, just some helpful pushes in the right direction.

[TightSlot]

Have you tried phoning the airlines and mentioning the circumstances - possibly they may be able to assist with a compassionate discount of some kind?

[harrogate]

Yeah, I phoned Emirates and Qantas.

Neither were prepared to help, but I suppose they get people trying it on quite often.

Thanks anyway. The search continues... £1080 is the best so far, but there's also a fee to alter the return date (she doesn't know when she'll be coming back), which neither airline were prepared to waive either.

[PAXboy]

The alternative is to take a 'jig-saw' route. Which is to put the route together using a couple of carriers. The problem with this is paying multiple departure/arrival taxes and that can really push the price up.

I am presuming that you have tried all the usual online agencies and consolidators? There are some very good ones and there is also the old fashioned way - of going into one of those that specialises in OZ/NZ and leaning on the counter. The person is likely to be on commission and you may get some options not available to the retail customer online.

[UniFoxOs]

We went to Oz last year on the cheapest Emirates flight we could get, we thought no alterations were allowed, but when I fell ill and we had to postpone our return, we were allowed one change free - then it would have been £25 for any subsequent changes. Suggest you book with a return date well in the future without mentioning in advance that you might want to change it. Don't forget UK nationals need visas.

Best of luck.

UFO

[Der absolute Hammer]

British Airways - Plan your journey (http://www.britishairways.com/travel/fx/public/en_za?eId=111011&timestamp=1206022904&source=original&source=continue)

Best I can find for you. BA seem much less money than Virgin or Qatar.
Yes-on British passport you need a visa.

[harrogate]

I am presuming that you have tried all the usual online agencies and consolidators? There are some very good ones and there is also the old fashioned way - of going into one of those that specialises in OZ/NZ and leaning on the counter. The person is likely to be on commission and you may get some options not available to the retail customer online.

This was the common sense thing to do, but living nowhere near an office of a specialist agent these days, I didn't think it was an option.

But I opted to ring an office of Austravel as a last ditch attempt, and was put through to Bournemouth where a chap got me an open return (with no date change fee) with insurance and the ETA visa all in for £870. I can't complain at that can I? Superb. It's with Asiana ex LHR. I flew with them last year and they were brilliant.

There was a bit of drama with the payment (the credit card we used hasn't been used for 3 years, so there was always gonna be a problem, I suppose), but my friend who the ticket is for lives in Leeds, so she sorted it out by popping into the Austravel office in Leeds about 20 minutes ago.

Magnificent. A big thanks goes out to the chaps at Austravel for helping this go smoothly. Not a nice situation to be in at all.

Thanks for all your suggestions folks. Much appreciated.

[Der absolute Hammer]

That is great news.
Must thank you though. never heard of ETA type visa. It is easy on line and not a problem to get one bit.
Good luck.

[raffele]

ETA visa is an Electronic Travel Authorisation. It is an electronic visa like the Australian visa for British nationals and the upcoming replacement for the US I94W

[TightSlot]

ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) (http://london.usembassy.gov/cons_new/visa/niv/esta.html) is not a Visa - it is an authority to travel: All foreign national (except Canada and Resident Alien) pax to the USA who do not have a Visa in their passports (in other words, who are traveling under the Visa Waiver Scheme) will need to complete the online application prior to travel to the USA.

Completeion of the ESTA details does not guarantee entry into the USA, but does permit the boarding of an aircraft heading for the USA.

January 12th is the Go-Live date. The good news is that having completed the procedure, the information remains valid for 2 years, or until passport expiry if sooner.

[beamender99]

Good to hear you have sorted out trip.

I have found that
Cheap Flights, Airline Tickets, Cheap Airfare & Discount Travel Deals - Kayak.co.uk (http://www.kayak.co.uk/)
is a very good site for searching for flights.

( I have absolutely no connection with the company)

[Robin Pilot]

Try Air Asia.

They're advertising some really cheap flights from Stansted to Gold Coast. From there you could pick up a cheap flight to Sydney or even overland it on a bus (it's about 10 hours in a car). Price I saw was about AUD550 (about 220 quid).

[Passagiata]

btw Harrogate did you try the diplomatic channels? I once needed help getting from UK to Oz and the officers lent me the fare and chalked it up against my passport!

[PAXboy]

That was British officials? Recent information films from them pointed out that British Consulates do not provide money - even on loan.