Hession200

Hi All,

I was hoping for some advice. I am a healthcare worker based in Dublin. I am due to start at job in Perth, Australia next summer. I will likely be eligible for an exemption to travel to WA due to the frontline nature of my work.

It is proving difficult to get into WA at the moment due to flight quotas etc. Many passengers seem to be using business class as a means of being more likely to not get bumped from the flight to meet the quota. I am looking at business class flights at the moment for myself, wife and 2 kids for next July (one will be a lap infant). Qatar, Singapore and Emirates seem to be the airlines flying into Perth with any degree of regularity at the moment so I am guessing these are my best bets? Qantas is likely not to be back by next July? The price of business class from Dublin is in the region of 8500EUR for the 4 of us for those 3 airlines. Any ideas if I'm as well off booking now or waiting till new year from a price point-of-view? I realise nobody has a crystal ball.

Also, I can get very good value from Scandinavia. I wonder if it is risky to instead book a flight from Stockholm to Perth? I can get ARN-FRA-SIN-PER for around 5400EUR with Singapore. With Qatar I can do ARN-DOH-PER for 6500EUR or much cheaper again on GOT-DOH-PER - at only 5000EUR. I am guessing GOT-DOH is a risky route to take as it is one of the routes currently suspended by Qatar pending Covid? What about the flights from ARN - are they worth the 3000EUR saving or too risky in the current climate? Sweden seem to be allowing flights in at the moment and have had the most 'open' approach to Covid. I can get from DUB to ARN for fairly cheap on SAS Plus a couple days before the flight out but again that is bringing another element of risk to the whole thing.

As a family we are not exactly flush. 8500EUR for flights is going to make a serious dent in our small savings. But maybe it is the safest approach to take to ensure I get over there for the start of my job?

Any thoughts or opinions would be gladly received.

Paul.

the810

Sweden is extremely unlikely to introduce any kind of restrictions on intra-EU travel, so I would consider flight out of ARN or GOT to be a very safe option.

13901

OP, I really feel for you! It's a large bet to place so far in advance. Right now I would perhaps sit on it. By the next summer things could be improving, or be completely shite; right now there's just no way to say.

Contrary to the810 I wouldn't buy a flight via Scandinavia, especially on a self-made connection. The more the stopovers the more the risk of regulatory problems. If you're OK to enter Australia I'd opt for the simplest possible route, all on the same booking.

the810

I can't see what kind of regulatory problems could arise, since Swedish government's unofficial position on border restrictions is that they are "ridiculous", they were never considered and no one relevant even suggests they should be introduced.

The chance of it is well below 1%.

Often1

I would not do anything right now. Nobody -- and I mean nobody -- can predict what the situation will be next July and that will not likely gel before next June.

What Sweden may or may not do, what transits in Germany & Singapore may mean and what admissibility requirements & quotas (even for health care workers) may or may not be in place, simply is not even remotely on the radar screen.

I would also be concerned about booking separate flights if finances are a concern. It is close to a certainty that there will be schedule changes and perhaps cancellations between now and next July. If you hold DUB-ARN positioning tickets, but it becomes better to depart from FRA or perhaps somewhere else, you might well wind up having to abandon those 4 xDUB tickets.

This is all disconcerting, but there are no certainties and planning may have downsides here.

:D!

GOT-DOH-PER in J at €5000 for 4 is a pretty good price. If QR cancels the flight, they are still obliged to provide travel, so they should be amenable to changing the departure point to ARN; they may even agree to change it to DUB.

I believe they are currently doing something like this for flights up to the end of 2020, but you should go to the QR forum and read or ask there for specifics.

I wouldn't book a European short-haul to Sweden or elsewhere until a few weeks before, when your long-haul is more certain.

13901

How about other countries closing to Sweden?

If there's anything these months should've taught us is that anything is possible. I wouldn't going 'round playing with self connections when you're moving a family but that's just me.

Mwenenzi

As the posts above is far too early to be considering July 2021 flights to Perth. Wait until ~April 2021 before even looking at options. . No one knows what the situation will be in July 2021

Are you wanting to fly business class only to ensure seats? Mid 2021 may be a lot different. Everyone's crystal ball is in isolation at this time.

Flights to AU are not the problem.. The issue is limited capacity of the 14 days self paid Covid-19 hotel isolation. Airlines are only selling a seats that match they quota they have.
With 2 small kids I would be looking for the most direct - simplest route. The more airports the harder it will be.

EU to PER has always been a little problematic.
Pre Covid-19 a good way was to look the PER wikipedia entry. Not accurate now. Work backwards
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth_Airport

Hession200

These 2 messages sum up how I feel about it I guess. It is hard to ignore a definite deal but maybe that is blinkering one to the obvious risks in the current climate.

Another option for me is to book a Business Flexi ticket with Singapore which allows for free cancellation - ARN-FRA-SIN-PER for 6100EUR. This is still 2500EUR less than the DUB departures with SQ/QR etc. This still doesn't mitigate the (low?) risk of not getting into Sweden or being allowed to transit through FRA etc.

I have asked the question on the QR forum as you suggested and all replies have encouraged me to book the flight from GOT and the if the route is cancelled I could even change it to DUB, or worse case, another airport in Scandinavia. It has left me torn as to what the best option is. I hadn't planned on booking the short haul flight yet anyway. Or I could possibly book an SAS PLUS Pro ticket which is fully refundable.
m

Hession200

Thanks for the comments. I know exactly what you mean in terms of not having a crystal ball.

I'm not sure what you mean regarding working backwards? I've studied extensively the current situation regarding getting into PER. Qatar Airways are probably the best bet in terms of numbers of flights at the moment. Followed by Singapore and Emirates. There's not much in it though. Then the odd Malaysian flight.

In terms of getting the DOH - there are plenty of flights from most of the big European cities at the moment. This includes a daily flight from ARN, which has been running throughout the pandemic. DUB has 3 flights a week currently, but has the advantage of being my local airport.

From a Singapore point of view, the FRA-SIN route seems to be frequent and has been running throughout the pandemic, As has the ARN-FRA route with SAS. Hence, I was looking at this route as a fairly 'safe' option. The other routes to SIN that have been running throughout the last 6 months are crazy expensive. But as you said, who knows what it is going to be like in 6 months time.

I might be safer just holding out.

bensyd

I'd hold out. By July next year it's unlikely there will be a backlog to get into Australia. The quota was only introduced when MEL stopped accepting international arrivals. I'd expect MEL to reopen to international flights sometime early in the new year. Also as countries are added to the no quarantine list that will take further pressure off hotel quarantine. If there was a large outbreak in Sydney then that all goes out the window of course, but (touchwood) we've been dealing with consistent cases since May and life is 95% back to normal with contact tracing doing the heavy lifting.

Mwenenzi

Current situation is totally irrelevant for July 2021. Current is only valid for now. Wait 6 months before looking.

If you want to lend some money interest free for months to an airline, buying a fully refundable ticket is an option.
Have you priced the lap child business fare? Can vary between airlines

Often1

To be clear, I would not book separate tickets during the pandemic at all. At least unless I am willing to toss the onwards ticket.

All it takes is a bit of bad weather or a mechanical issue on the xDUB flight and OP is stuck in ARN, having missed the origination of his new ticket and possibly having to buy new tickets at walk-up prices for the next service.

Hezu

And if you consider starting the long haul journey from Sweden, I think it is worth to look at the options for the ex-DUB flights to Sweden. For time being, the non-stops between DUB and Sweden are quite scarce: DUB-GOT is only offered by FR and just twice a week, DUB-ARN is little more frequent, but still there is just one airline (SK) and the flights are not daily (at least just now). Sure, routing via eg. LHR or other major hub, offers more flights, but it might bring also more hassle especially as you are travelling with children.

FlightDetective

Like you, I am also based in Dublin and you're correct, Gothenburg is cheapest. I booked GOT-DOH-SYD and return before the pandemic for travel in November and it was a good price. You will not be able to change your outbound country, so if GOT is not operating, it will be ARN. I am now flying ARN-DOH-ADL to quarantine there, then I used my points for another flight to SYD.

To get to and from GOT, I decided to fly BA in Y - DUB-LHR-GOT. Same for ARN once it had changed. I have twice flown to Stockholm before to get QR J flights to Australia and I would recommend it. Once via LHR with BA and once with SAS direct.

My advice would be to book with Qatar out of Gothenburg and save the cash. A couple of hours of inconvenience flying to Sweden via LHR or even AMS on KL is worth it to save thousands of Euro on a ticket for the family. Should there be changes, you will be able to amend the flights easily, though you will still be flying out of Sweden. I'd book the flights from Ireland to Sweden much closer to the time, like 2 months out or so. But lock in the long haul now.

Good luck and if you need anything, just ask.