Predictions of when international flights may resume/bans lifted

Rant warning.
My personal outlook today is particularly gloomy, given the cancellation of Seat Son's flight DXB-SIN-SYD for 14-15 August. So feel free to take take my post with a grain of bitter personal disappointment.

I stand by my earlier predication of 12th of Never.

This border closure nonsense has just become totally entrenched as an acceptable or even laudable situation by cowardly politicians and fearful citizens. It is totally clear that no one in authority actually gives a stuff about how it is impacting people like me and the many others who post here with family overseas, or who are overseas and have family here. We have no rights at all; our families do not matter at all. And I'm sick to beyond saying of all the people on here who post about "wanting to travel" as equating to "wanting to see family", and then try to make out that it is selfish to want to see family. It's not selfish. Family is everything and some of us are being denied that comfort, over and over, with no end in sight.

The adoption of a hard "80% must be vaccinated" position to even open up in some way means we will all be held hostage in Gulag/Stalag/Fortress Australia by the inevitable 20% holdouts.

And now that so many children are getting it in QLD, I confidently predict that the next thing will be "oh well 80% of the eligible population have been vaccinated, but now we have to protect the vulnerable children". Then it will be "oh but now there is the Iota variant, or the Theta Variant, or the Sigma Variant, so we will all have to get re-vaccinated/booster shots" which will lead to more delays and a drop off in people's willingness to get shots as it just goes on ad infinitum into the future.

We are never going to get out of this. Well maybe in 3-5 years more we might, possibly. But earlier than that is now a 0% chance in my opinion.

The first politician to announce a hard date for opening up, or to announce "a percentage that have been offered a vaccine, whether they choose to take it or not" will get my vote.

Rant completed.
Just remember all this is just for next May. Once that is over, shackles come off and we will be able to travel. Think of it less than 12 months away.

As to your last comment, VIC, QLD and WA Premiers all stated that exact same message, all in last 2 months 'once everyone has been offered a vaccine, we need to release restrictions and allow travel'.

I'm considering booking Darwin - Milan return with Singapore Airlines now for beginning of July 2022. $1401 return with baggage, pretty good from where I sit. Fare is transferable (if I cant travel and need to extend it), if I need to home quarantine for 7 days (as I may be one of the first travellers so be it - cheap AirBNB).
 
Rant warning.
My personal outlook today is particularly gloomy, given the cancellation of Seat Son's flight DXB-SIN-SYD for 14-15 August. So feel free to take take my post with a grain of bitter personal disappointment.

I stand by my earlier predication of 12th of Never.

This border closure nonsense has just become totally entrenched as an acceptable or even laudable situation by cowardly politicians and fearful citizens. It is totally clear that no one in authority actually gives a stuff about how it is impacting people like me and the many others who post here with family overseas, or who are overseas and have family here. We have no rights at all; our families do not matter at all. And I'm sick to beyond saying of all the people on here who post about "wanting to travel" as equating to "wanting to see family", and then try to make out that it is selfish to want to see family. It's not selfish. Family is everything and some of us are being denied that comfort, over and over, with no end in sight.

The adoption of a hard "80% must be vaccinated" position to even open up in some way means we will all be held hostage in Gulag/Stalag/Fortress Australia by the inevitable 20% holdouts.

And now that so many children are getting it in QLD, I confidently predict that the next thing will be "oh well 80% of the eligible population have been vaccinated, but now we have to protect the vulnerable children". Then it will be "oh but now there is the Iota variant, or the Theta Variant, or the Sigma Variant, so we will all have to get re-vaccinated/booster shots" which will lead to more delays and a drop off in people's willingness to get shots as it just goes on ad infinitum into the future.

We are never going to get out of this. Well maybe in 3-5 years more we might, possibly. But earlier than that is now a 0% chance in my opinion.

The first politician to announce a hard date for opening up, or to announce "a percentage that have been offered a vaccine, whether they choose to take it or not" will get my vote.

Rant completed.
This is my first ever message in this community but as I read your opening paragraph re: son's fight cancellation an anguished "NOOOOOO" involuntarily broke from me :( As an Australian living in Canada and wanting to return to Australia with my husband and children I feel your pain. I don't even know what more to say except that I'm thinking of you and the thousands upon thousands of others wanting to return to Australia.
 
The obvious exit point at this stage would be via New Zealand when the bubble is in operation. No restrictions to go anywhere once you arrive. Coming back to Australia subject to caps of course. If we get other travel bubbles, dunno how they would operate. Singapore for example may be prepared to prevent Aussies leaving to anywhere except Australia.
 
The obvious exit point at this stage would be via New Zealand when the bubble is in operation. No restrictions to go anywhere once you arrive. Coming back to Australia subject to caps of course. If we get other travel bubbles, dunno how they would operate. Singapore for example may be prepared to prevent Aussies leaving to anywhere except Australia.
I'm not sure Singapore would be willing to buy into that restriction because people may have a legitimate exemption to leave for Europe and dealing with all that Australian border business may be a bridge to far for them to deal with.
 
One of my plans is to leave for NZ early February and on to Singapore and the UK.Plan to be away until after the May election and hoping for a relaxation of HQ then.We are vaccinated and planning a booster early January.
Will also apply for exemption on compassionate grounds and keep fingers crossed.
A couple of other options that must remain secret for now.
 
This is my first ever message in this community but as I read your opening paragraph re: son's fight cancellation an anguished "NOOOOOO" involuntarily broke from me :( As an Australian living in Canada and wanting to return to Australia with my husband and children I feel your pain. I don't even know what more to say except that I'm thinking of you and the thousands upon thousands of others wanting to return to Australia.
Thanks for the support @mhouse165. I’m feeling a bit better today. It’s so hard having hope constantly snatched away.

Anyway, welcome to the forum. There is so much information here, and as you can see, so many lovely people (along with the few obligatory trolls 😂), so I hope you enjoy and get value from your membership.

I hope you and your family make it home safely soon.
 
One of my plans is to leave for NZ early February and on to Singapore and the UK.Plan to be away until after the May election and hoping for a relaxation of HQ then.We are vaccinated and planning a booster early January.
Will also apply for exemption on compassionate grounds and keep fingers crossed.
A couple of other options that must remain secret for now.
Well in good time when you can, I would love to know how it all pans out. We are just not quite retired enough at this point to be able to leave for 3 months and then take the risk of further delayed returns. We will be able by mid 2023 and it feels like subterfuge will still be necessary by then so I am very happy to have the chance to stand on the shoulders of giants and follow your pathway!
 
As to your last comment, VIC, QLD and WA Premiers all stated that exact same message, all in last 2 months 'once everyone has been offered a vaccine, we need to release restrictions and allow travel'.
I hear you @oznflfan - but the premiers unfortunately do not control the international borders or quarantine requirements. Well not directly anyway. They do thought the damned quarantine caps. So I really meant “federal politician”. And so far they are all singing from the hermit kingdom song book.
 
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If I were younger, richer and mortgage free I would have been on the first plane to NZ and then beyond. But I can't risk being trapped overseas for months on end and I can't afford hotel quarantime. My ability to travel is heavily dependent on points for flights and cheap AirBnB or hotel in destinations. I can stay a week in Indonesia, Turkey, Peru, etc for less than a night in an Aussie hotel. I also have to remain fit enough to do this and age is catching up to me. I have bad memories of what the natural aging process did to my previously healthy non smoking parents before they passed on a few years ago in their late 80's. In their twilight years they were both completely dependent and hated it. Never mind being able or willing to travel. And they weren't 1/10th as independent thinking as I am.
 
Well in good time when you can, I would love to know how it all pans out. We are just not quite retired enough at this point to be able to leave for 3 months and then take the risk of further delayed returns. We will be able by mid 2023 and it feels like subterfuge will still be necessary by then so I am very happy to have the chance to stand on the shoulders of giants and follow your pathway!
And thinking it through, part of my problem is competing family demands.

My father-in-law is 90. I’m not sure my husband could be away overseas for months on end because of the high potential for end of life issues. Similarly, my mum is 87 and just dealing with a big melanoma issue. She relies on me (and my sister) for support to live at home to supplement the ACAT in home care she receives. To be honest, at their ages and states of health, they could pop off at any time - or could both power on for a few more years still. It would be hard for us to leave indefinitelyin these circumstances, even once we wind down and close our business and finish building our house.

But on the other hand, I haven’t seen my son since January 2020. His live in girlfriend of 4 years suddenly left him for someone else 4 months back, after they had endured and apparently survived the very strict lockdown in the UAE together. They were clearly not on the same page - he was planning to propose marriage to her - she had her eye on someone else. And I know he’s young and resilient and that it‘s for the best and all that. But right now, he is shattered - lonely, miserable, questioning his judgment, feeling stupid, and stuck in the new apartment they moved to and lovingly furnished together in December. And when your 30 year old son tells his sister that “right now I just need some time at home with mum and dad”, it is totally heart wrenching not to be able to give him that.

I am very anguished at having to choose which family member needs me the most. It’s not right. and I should not have to make that choice now. Maybe it was OK in March 2020 (not even sure it was right even then TBH), but we are now looking at border closures and strict caps, and long quarantine periods until at least December 2021, and realistically it will be longer than that. That is just not right. And it is even worse for people missing major life events like weddings, special birthdays, graduations, births. And tragic for people missing the chance for final farewells with their nearest and dearest.

I feel that history will judge our inhumane pandemic response here in Australia harshly, in the same way that we now judge the earlier appalling treatment of people with mental illness, the way single mothers were treated in the 50s, 60s and 70s, the Stolen Generations, attitudes to soldiers with PTSD and many other things that were thought to be acceptable or necessary at the time, but which we now abhor.
 
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One of my plans is to leave for NZ early February and on to Singapore and the UK.Plan to be away until after the May election and hoping for a relaxation of HQ then.We are vaccinated and planning a booster early January.
Will also apply for exemption on compassionate grounds and keep fingers crossed.
A couple of other options that must remain secret for now.
Unless you have a passport for another country that will fail. NZ not allowed to let Aussies leave.
 
Unless you have a passport for another country that will fail. NZ not allowed to let Aussies leave.
What if you do have another passport - hypothetically speaking of course. Australia --> NZ --> USA --> NZ --> Australia. With hypothetical USA & AUS passports.
 
What if you do have another passport - hypothetically speaking of course. Australia --> NZ --> USA --> NZ --> Australia. With hypothetical USA & AUS passports.
You would not be able to do the bolded part. That would currently only be available to NZ citizens / residents.
 
I am 100% sure NZ are checking and when you want to come back to Oz we are following the passport trail.
Australia may question you on arrival back but NZ is not barring Aussie passport holders from leaving NZ for elsewhere. Many have done it. Their border control has already stated that.

What I would not do is book a trip to UK (eg) on the sector Aus-NZ or Aus border control might have access to that info. So All separate tickets. And you can’t return to NZ on way back to Aus unless a NZ passport holder.
 
I am 100% sure NZ are checking and when you want to come back to Oz we are following the passport trail.
thanks for that reply. And so do you know what action if any would be taken against an Australian who exited via NZ and then returned to Australia? I mean surely we cannot be in the business of deporting Australians? Or do you know whether those people going to get a fine? Or get sent to jail?
 
thanks for that reply. And so do you know what action if any would be taken against an Australian who exited via NZ and then returned to Australia? I mean surely we cannot be in the business of deporting Australians? Or do you know whether those people going to get a fine? Or get sent to jail?
Officially up to $63,000 fine / 5 years jail. In reality...not sure.
 

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