International arrival caps & getting back to Australia

[Mattg]

A friend of mine (who is an Australian citizen) has been working in Switzerland for the past few years, but would like to return home to Perth next February or March. He hasn't seen his family in Australia for several years now.

He's booked an economy class ticket on Qatar Airways, but is worried that he'll just get bumped at the last minute like so many other Australians have reported. He's not fussy about airlines or routings etc. but he can't afford to buy an expensive business class ticket on top of paying for the hotel quarantine in Australia.

It's been well-reported in the media that there are still many tens of thousands of Australians still trying to get home, but only spaces in hotel quarantine for around 6,000 people per week. Meanwhile, the number of people trying to get home continues to increase, not decrease.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has or hasn't been successful in returning to Australia over the past few months.

• Which airline did you fly and what kind of ticket did you have?
• Has anyone managed to get back on an award ticket?
• Did you get bumped, and if so, how much notice were you given?
• Any tips?

 

[levelnine]

Tell him to look on Facebook. There are heaps of groups (Australians stuck around the world, Australians in quarantine facilities, Mandatory 14 day Hotel Quarantine chat Group, etc) discussing the flight situation.

Judging by the chat in those groups, the process is complete chaos. Many people are flying back into Australia without any problem, but many, many others have had 10+ flights cancelled/delayed across pretty much every airline. It is, in short, a lottery. Not even business class is a guarantee that you will get home on your scheduled flight.

In terms of notice, with some flights the notice period of cancellation is as little as 24 hours. It appears that in some circumstances an airline is told by the Australian Government that the cap has been reached and that a flight cannot carry passengers, forcing them to bump all passengers off the day before it flies.

Reward flights are particularly risky because most reward availability in the next few months is on flights that have not yet started flying.

My tips:
- Be as flexible as possible
- Book on an airline that is flying into multiple Australian ports, so if one flight gets cancelled there's a chance of getting on to another flight.
- If you get bumped close to your travel date, check all airlines flying the route every couple of hours. Airlines are typically confirming with passengers that they'll be flying and releasing any spare capacity at the last minute.
- Read the hotel quarantine groups for tips about what to bring with you. There are some helpful suggestions in there such as yoga mats for exercise and cutlery because eating with plastic knives gets old quick.
- Register with DFAT and have a bag almost completely packed ready to go. Sometimes they get notified of spare seats and will call people on the list, but you usually have less than 5-7 hours to get to the airport.

 

[dajop]

We got back from SIN to SYD on the weekend, no dramas. I was on award economy ticket booked in July and my partner on J class booked 2-3 weeks ago (did have award ticket, but work recently requested for him to be in MEL in January anyway). His boss also a couple of weeks ago secured a J ticket to MEL this week and several colleagues into Australia as well. Maybe status helps, I don't know.

On the SQ flight, there were 26 pax in biz and 14 in economy. Judging by conversations, some were returning (permanently) from the UK, some were definitely expats with families visiting for Xmas (like us). One SIN originating passenger mentioned this was to be his third stint in hotel quarantine in SYD. Saw quite a few of the pax in the lounge before hand it , they could only have originated in Singapore, Vietnam, China or Brunei - most likely SIN.

I also I wonder if coming from Europe is more difficult. There's risks to airlines if pax get bumped at the transit point, in terms of passengers approvals to enter countries, quarantine requirements etc, so are being very conservative on any flights involving connections.

 

[DC3]

Tell him to look on Facebook ....

Good suggestion, but we don’t all do Facebook, you know.

Also, some good tips there.

 

[Mattg]

Thanks to those who've replied so far for the suggestions.