psuwara

Any suggestions would be very appreciated.

It's all a game of probabilities and risks... You can increase your chances, but not a guarantee. Enjoy the adventure.

Use this site to see if the flight arrives on the days you have booked. Flights are scheduled on a weekly basis. Each flight code is for the one flight a day, these flights happen on a weekly basis. The flights are generally schedule around 1-2 months ahead of time. When we bought our two business class tickets, we bought the Choice (Delta) fare code originally. The flight was bought four months out from our flight date. This flight appeared and disappeared a number of time between April and July. In June however, I noticed the flight code for the flight was not arriving on the Wednesday for the entire route, so I knew 100% the flight would not happen. Fortunately I was able to squeeze in a flight change from July 7th to July 12th using the same fare code. I was lucky I made the call when I did, because the week after there were no more flights at all with that fare code, and upgrading would cost another $4,000. So it would have been a double hit if we got cancelled by the cap change, since we would need to have moved the flight and paid a lot more. It was just pure luck for us Etihad kept the flight caps the same until the 14th since our Melbourne leg departed Abu Dhabi midnight 13th and arrived Melbourne evening of the 13th. The basic gist of it is, nothing is ever guaranteed. But the odds increase as everything lines up for the departure and the flight is occurring on a regular basis. To check your flight code, whether it is arriving, use this site : https://www.flightstats.com/v2 Good luck and safe travels!

We flew in on the last international Melbourne flight arriving on July 13th. On this flight I counted 8 passengers in business class, the day before there were 12 seat reservations. Likely 4 people were not able to board due to PCR test results or other issues. Economy blew me away, there were likely a maximum of 20 passengers. So even with no caps, these flight would be arriving with no passengers. No wonder the gulf states with their oil money who can afford no passengers. I’ll have to write a story about the whole thing.

We made it to Australia. Have to say, the arrival process was pretty gruelling. Everyone was very welcoming but at the end it was ruined by a big man with a thick French accent having a go at me for thinking I was treating him like a helper. When I never asked for his help at all and he was really rude to us as I tried to recover our 110kg worth bags on to the bus to the hotel. Currently in the centre of the city, into our second day of the quarantine period. So far it’s been pretty quiet. But I don’t see how I’ll get much work done. Etihad Airways really made the trip wonderful!

Any companies people are aware of that can handle the entire process? Our two Abyssinians are currently with friends as we plan to move to Melbourne. Any advice would be most appreciated. We tried the process ourselves, but two months in and we didn't get anywhere with being able to get blood samples to the right place. PLEASE HELP!

Melbourne rental market is a buyers market, entire buildings are almost empty. We have decided to stay with family instead of renting. Passed our PCR test ! That was one anxious wait as the Delta variant explodes around Europe.

DFAT flights are pretty much a no go for us anyway. Since DFAT connecting flights and VISAs have been impossible to coordinate. Just recently Germany shut down the border with Russia, then a week after opened it with self isolation periods. Its just still so unpredictable.

Go with Etihad, if you can book a business class ticket.

Better than Russia. They did the EURO Cup with 26,000 per stadium as cases rocketed, then after the EURO cup finished, oh, no more than 75 people in one place. $$$ . Very few people here in Russia trust the vaccine and only now, even in our small group of extended family and friends, are people thinking it's a good idea to vaccinate, given I got the Sputnik 5 vaccine (Similar to the AstraZeneca in design) and didn't die.

It's likely you will end up in Sydney then have on-ward tickets after Quarantine. But check with Etihad about this. There could be connecting flights for international arrivals going to Melbourne.

Regarding Question 3 If you bought your ticket this week, after the announcement of the caps. Etihad has adjusted all of their flights accordingly. I would say at this stage, your are highly likely to arrive. The problem would have been if you bought your ticket last week, with your ticket being for a flight during the July 14-August 31 period, that you would have had issues. Etihad has made it clear they have capacity and are flying to Australia at this stage, with reduced flights and intake. However, everything you see scheduled will likely happen. I haven't seen 1 flight cancellation on flight tracker flights coming from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne. You can see flight results here : http://flightstats.com Also, given the time period, people will have 2+ weeks of notice. Etihad have done well with this one. I cannot comment on other carriers, except I have heard that Qatar will likely drop most, if not all flights. They are too focused on the World Cup at this stage to be concerned with Australia.

If you have business class tickets, you should be ok with Etihad. Other airlines I’m not sure on. To be safe, just upgrade to business class and they’ll fit you in within a 1-2 week window. Qatar however is another story, they bumped my economy tickets 5 times… Persistently.

Etihad made an official statement regarding flight caps: A limited number of seats have been made available by the Australian authorities for flights between Abu Dhabi and Australia with a reduction in seats from 14 July to 31 August to manage the pressure on quarantine facilities. We are working closely with the Australian Government to open up seats where possible. Please check etihad.com/book for availability and to book tickets. From this site : https://www.etihad.com/en/travel-updates/all-destinations-travel-guides

The actual seats and service, in particular business class. If you can get Qatar Qsuites, that’s the best, but the 787-9 (layout 2) of the Etihad flights coming from Abu Dhabi are the best bet for the price, but after July 14, the price may go up a bit… maybe.