Anyone else re-thinking overseas travel?

We had Bali booked for Easter via Virgin. They already cancelled the flights and refund is being processed.

 

Qantas did not receive any money. Nor did any other airline.

The stimulus package was made to the Australian airline industry. There is no money being handed out.

It is aimed at reducing the operational costs of all airlines operating within Australia by not charging Government fees.

It is to help keep them afloat. We will need these airlines during the crises but especially after it.

Imagine an Australia with no domestic airline industry!!!

I like your sense of humour in trying times

 

Doubt it seeing he have himself a $2mil paycut just the other week

 

Up in the air would have been more appropriate. We never want them crashing to earth.

 

I was going to write “up in the air” but that is not true. Only the planes are up in the air (some of the time) but the airline companies are actually on the ground .

The Government fees are mainly charged when the planes leave the ground and come back to it. I assume ScoMo didn’t want airlines attempting to cut their costs by keeping their planes in the air indefinitely .

So I went back to by PhD research paper on business survival (BS for short), look up the definition section and determined that “afloat” was the right term.

Do you have a better BS term?

 

See my post above .

 

Can I suggest you grab a glass (maybe a bottle as it is an hour long) of good shiraz when it is a little quieter tonight and watch the full press conference?

Not advice, not a directive, not an instruction - just an item of common sense .

Far better viewing IMHO then wasting 90 minutes watching something like MAFS like a lot of Aussies will most likely be doing .

 

"The move will immediately inject $159 million back into the airlines bank accounts from reimbursements from the excise paid by domestic airlines since the start of last month, said Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack" that's from the financial review today. So where do you get your information from?
The rest of the money is handed back to them via not paying the fuel excise, so that is giving them the money, it is being handed back to them or they are not being charged fees and taxes unlike the rest of us.
Maybe I can think back to 2014 where Qantas was almost handed a debt guarantee disguised as a bailout package by your mate Joe Hockey and Alan Joyce on $6m was the CEO then as well. so at what stage do we bite the bullet and let that idiot Joyce and his crew dissolve.They actually slashed 5000 jobs then How long do we keep bailing them out? They are the most expensive airline in Australia as well and give their customers nothing.
Jobs still have to go and plenty of them. Other countries have had airlines collapse in the past and during this pandemic. Business's go broke, that's life. I would rather be in the airline industry than be a farmer in a drought for 5 years and get SFA because it is not sexy enough.

If we don't have a domestic airline, think of the Greyhound bus...what a beauty. You can hop on that and think how therapeutic it would be as you travel across Australia, building the economy up by spending your hard earned at all the bus stops along the way. Employment would be created......

 

When someone pays fees and they are returned, that is a refund. Not a bailout.

How can one hand back money that is not paid?

Which accounting principle are you applying here?

almost handed = it didn’t happen

your mate = your source please

That’s your opinion and you are welcome to keep it .

That’s your opinion and you are welcome to keep it .

Are you seriously comparing the loss of an airline company to the loss of a bus company?

 

Not sure why you are winking after each of your comments...strange behaviour. Does that pass off as a part of the debate does it?
You are very short on transport history. I suggest you read up a bit more and less of the winking.

Its a bailout….

The loss of an airline that cant keep itself afloat but pays it's executives top dollar and treats it customers like crap...who really cares.

 

I’m in the UK currently under (mostly) house arrest. It’s quite grim here. Reluctant to leave elderly parents.

Keeping an eye on Emirates who at present are still flying.

 

I am trying to get back into the country now, cannot get through to change my ticket. All swamped.

 

Must be a real nightmare for some people...or a lot of people. Does anyone have some type of insurance e.g pays for accommodation etc whilst stranded?

 

What airline? I find messaging on the app works best

 

Thanks for the Suggestion Heiz57. Its Thai Airways and I did try the app, but it is only an automated bot response.

 

I have not re-thought my travel plans. I am happy to fly to Greece at the start of May.

Unfortunately, it looks like the trip is being cancelled so it's out of my hands. Shame. I was looking forward to it.

 

I’m due to fly back in 4 weeks, really not sure if plans afoot to close the border

 

Obviously everything changed.
We got to the Cook island and spent a week in Aitutaku and the pacific resort . Very nice .

ScoMo's initial recommendation ( not the ban ) to avoid occurred on the way to airport .

We were meant to stay for two weeks . Air NZ have a direct flight to sydney once a week on Thursday from rarotonga . Internal flights three a day from Aitutkai to Raro.

Tracked what was happen while we were there . Until about middle of this week everything was ok . AirNZ were saying they had a special relationship with the pacific islands and would keep flying .

Things changed on Wed morning , when our return flight wasn't available to book on . Also NZ and Aus brought in their travel bans .

We tried to contact them Air NZ but there was no reply .. We decided to try to bring our flight forwards a week.

Air Rarotonga which does the internal flights have an office on Aitutaki and we went there in the afternoon . They told us there were no seats available from aitutaki to Raro before the Raro to Sydney flight so even if we could get on the Raro to Sydney flight , we couldn't get from Aitutaki to Rarotonga to link up ....

We had sent an email to Air NZ asking if we could more our flights forward . around 8 pm we got an reply which included confirmed tickets from Aitutaki to raro and from Raro to Sydney for the next day . Interesting since we'd just been told there were no seats available from Aitutaki to Raro on that day .

We get reception to print out the tickets and tell them we're leaving the next morning and can we arrange a transfer .

Next morning , call porters to pick up our bags and we're asked to go to reception where we're told that there are no available seats for our flight from Aitutaki to Raro . We show them our confirmed tickets and say we'll go to the airport anyway .

I check out the mini bus to see which seats will be the first to exit and I also note where in the trailer our bags are . Back end , I can reach over and get them once the lid is raided .

So at the airport , we're first to the checkin line ( without having to push or rush ) just like buying an IP , we did our research , planed and get in ahead of the herd ....

Two people at the counter , one junior and a supervisor. We give our names and they junior looks puzzled and asks

" you're booked on this flight ?"

" Yes we say and here are our confirmed tickets "

Supervisors reaches over with her pen and whispers " those two " and we're on the flight and someone's been bounced .

In reality , I wasn't that concerned for the two who got bounced as they're probably locals going to the " Big Island " as Aitutaki is closing down . They'll be able to fly tomorrow . Didn't here any raised voices complaining.

I'm fairly sure any OS tourists were being looked after and I noted that the two staff members ( Locals ) manning the counter were on the flight .

Probably helped that we were staying at the top resort and were flying Business Class .

BTW , another reason to fly business class ( we've only started in the last two years ) is your seat is guaranteed , while in Cattle Class IT IS NOT . Typically most airlines overbook in the expectation that some people don't turn up . Most flights have staff on board and they're usually the first to get bumped .

Sad thing was at NO TIME did Air NZ contact us telling that our return flight was cancelled , so we had to be very proactive to ensure we got back the way we wanted .


I knew things would change while we were over there , but given the relationship between Air NZ and the islands and between NZ and Australia , I felt the worst case scenario of getting stuck over there were minimal , and evern if we hadn't left when we did , we probably still would have been able to get out via NZ . I did suggest we get an airbnb on rarotonga for 12 months ( I was serious ) but was out voted by my wife .

If our trip had been anywhere with the exception of internally in Australia I wouldn't have gone . Definitely not to Bali etc .

We won't be going to Europe in June . We have our weekender which we're not going to air bnb at this stage .

Cliff