Flying home for Xmas

irelandsown

Tad early I know but just been looking at flights home from xmas. The cheapest I can find is $3100 with Etihad for Sydney to Dublin return. Qantas is similar with a change in London.

Has anyone seen any cheaper? I want to book them soon cos they will only increase in price. Looking at going 19th Dec and back the 9th of Jan.

Trained Monkey

Did you try looking at flying from Melbourne instead of Sydney? Think Etihad have opened a new route offering good value return flights to Melbourne. Just checked and return is approx $2,900 around xmas but flying to Melbourne would prob rule out any savings...

hussey

Yeah same with me
Eithad had two/three weeks ago flights for $2100 around xmas time
I didn't have enough on my CC and now I am kicking myself

I'm looking for 15th/12-10th/10 and cheapest I see is 2975 inc tax with eithad

I tried cheapflights.com and expedia.com.au and still not as cheap

I'm about to head down to flight centre and see if they can do cheaper

hussey

Just back from Harvey world travel

They have a swiss air flight for 2450, but that includes a massive 6hr stop over on the way to dublin, and a 8hr stop over on the way back ...

irelandsown

Where is the stopover? Wouldn't be too bad if it was somewhere decent. Stopped in Abu Dhabi on the way here for an hour. Dont fancy dropping in there again anytime soon.

hussey

6hrs in Hong kong, way over

8hrs Zurich way back

Xavi6

I did 10 hours in Hong Kong on the way over here. Worth it for a flight that was a few hundred cheaper.

irelandsown

Anyone getting LAFHA know anything about this:

Where a contractor who qualifies for a Living Away From Home Allowance takes a trip home, 50% of the value of the trip can be reimbursed as a home leave trip. One home leave trip can be reimbursed per FBT year (1 April – 31 March). A person may choose to make more than 1 trip per year, but cannot claim more than 1 trip per FTB year.

I know FreeSpirit are full of **** (not with them btw) but would like to know if this is true before I talk to HR.

http://www.freespirit.com.au/infonet.htm

hussey

yes this is true ....

I don't get lafha myself, all my friends do, and one of them got this ... b*stard

<rant>
my company are d*cks, they want me to prove I am living away from home ..

which they define as owning a house in ireland :rolleyes:</rant>

pucan

Generally it's cheaper to book a flight to london and book the london dublin seperately through AerLingus.com. Generally saved around 5/600 bucks around christmas

hussey

Just got flights home to Dublin for an excellent price through expedia.com.au
Much cheaper than going to the ethiad airline themselves


Curry chips & white pudding here I come

FreeAnd..

was checking for prices on Ethiad over the last few weeks and they keep coming down...was checking for end of July last Friday and they are the exact same price via their website now as you got (even if they do have the worst site ever)

mandrake04

I just booked mine 17th Dec to 24th Jan RTW with Star Alliance (Singapore, British Midland, United, NZ Airways)

17th Syd - Belfast (via Singapore, London) on the new 380
29th Dublin - JFK
6th JFK - Vegas
11th Vegas - LAX
16th LAX- San Fran
20th San Fran - Honolulu
23rd Honolulu - Syd (via Auckland)

$3821 inc all Taxes for the above.

Great Value I would say.

irelandsown

Wow sounds like a great trip Mandrake.

Webjet.com.au has the Etihad flight for $2145. My mate booked his last week for over $2500. Going to book mine on Friday once the pay cheque rolls in.

Looking forward to some cold weather and some recession banter.

tallaght01

I've been finding singapore air the cheapest for gettin home for chrimbo from brisie.

How long are people going home for.

I've about 5 and a half weeks leave I'm saving up for it. Means I'll go the best part of 12 months without any time off, but I couldn't be arsed travelling across the globe for 2 weeks.

ifumust82

I know its not christmas but i'm flying Sydney to London in late August,got it all for approx 1450eur return with Singapore i'm pretty chuffed to say the least

mandrake04

tallaght01 wrote: »

I've been finding singapore air the cheapest for gettin home for chrimbo from brisie.

How long are people going home for.

I've about 5 and a half weeks leave I'm saving up for it. Means I'll go the best part of 12 months without any time off, but I couldn't be arsed travelling across the globe for 2 weeks.

Your mad!!

I went back to Ireland xmas 2006 after being away for over 2 years.... decided to go home for 4 weeks.... I wished i only booked 2.

I reckon 10 days is enough.... especially with all the doom & gloom back in Ireland.