Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Sydney, Australia and Stockholm, Sweden
Programs: VA Platinum, SQ Gold, TK Gold, Hhonors Gold, Accor Plus Platinum, Bonvoy Gold, Radisson Premium
Posts: 1,022
Sydney to Stockholm with *A during Covid-19 (NH/LH J)
Background
We live in Australia however my wife is Swedish so we do the annual trek once or twice a year. This year was to be a little different. We received the news that my wife's parents had contracted the virus, it quickly deteriorated for her Dad and sadly he passed away before we could get there. (But her mum is doing fine.)
In Australia, Citizens and Permanent Residents currently need permission from the Department of Home Affairs in order to travel overseas (and all inbound passengers are subject to 2 weeks enforced quarantine in a Hotel of the Government's choice). We requested a letter from the treating hospital (which had to be delivered by snail mail), added a birth certificate proving he is my wife's father, then we applied for permission under urgent family business grounds. Approval took 3 days and within minutes of receiving the email we were booked on a Lufthansa fare to fly out on the next available flight in 3 days.
There were a few options. SQ was flying a couple of times a week, but at the time was not permitting transit in Singapore, QR was flying multiple times a day but were very expensive and LH had a reasonable fare - especially considering the situation and short notice - to fly via Tokyo. The itinerary is:
NH880 SYD-HND
LH717 HND-FRA
LH808 FRA-ARN
In total: 35 hours of planes and lounges.
Last edited by sydunipete; Jul 1, 2020 at 6:32 am