We are mad Lol

[Cots]

I posted earlier in the year asking if we were mad to consider moving back to Oz after 7 years back home. Well we must be. I write this on day 6 of quarantine in a Brisbane hotel! It’s been 3 months and 10 days since we decided we’d put the house on the market and go for it and here we are! 

We flew Qatar as recommended by people here and it was a good move. The flight had 50 passengers to Doha and 165 to Brisbane so we had a row each. The most relaxing flights I’ve ever taken! Check in for just my family took an hour and 15 minutes with a number of forms and calls to Australia to check the validity of our visas. At the other side the flight landed at 4pm and we arrived in to our hotel at 9:30pm with plenty of waiting around in between. The nurse taking temperatures said it had been their busiest night for some time.

We’re in a 2 bed apartment in Brisbane with balconies and a view of the city and it is far better than we could have hoped for with more food arriving at the door  than we can eat. All in all not the worst experience in the world  

[Craig Colas]

Nice to see someone has made it there recently. Did you book economy or business class for your flights with Qatar? Still waiting on APHRA registration and at the moment and wife has a job offer lined up once she has that so hopefully will get the exemption then and will be booking flights asap. 

 

Do you have any children? If so how are they doing with the quarantine? Not looking forward to two weeks locked up with a 3 and 5 year old for us .

[Cots]

I booked the  cheapest seats available at the time which were comfort class which is basically economy but with 35kgs of luggage each. I have 3 children, boy/girl twins who turned 13 on day 2 of quarantine and a 6 year old turning 7 on exit quarantine day. 

We have TVs and brought with us in luggage a PS4, amazon fire sticks, laptops, monopoly, scrabble, iPad  and the twins have iphones. We nearly kill each other a minimum of 4 times a day but it’s to be expected  

 

 

[Craig Colas]

Haha i can imagine! Good luck with it all! Pleasing to see that someone has got a reasonable flight and got there without too many problems. Hopefully the same can be said when our time comes.

[Cots]

The flights cost £10150 for 5 of us  

[Craig Colas]

Just now, Cots said:

The flights cost £10150 for 5 of us  

Maybe not so reasonable then. There is 4 of us and I have seen some between 3-4k around september / october time. Problem is we cant really book them until we get that exemption. The closer we get to those dates the price goes up, so Im not sure what it will cost us in the end, but needs must i guess. 

[Cots]

Initially when I stated looking they were 4500 and yes, later in the year they are a similar price but for us it wasn’t worth selling the house and finding alternative accommodation for a few months to get cheaper flights.

How come you need an exemption? What are your circumstances?

 

 

[Craig Colas]

We have a 491 visa through my wife, she is a nurse. So need an exemption with that visa, which requires a job offer. Just waiting on APHRA registration and she has a job pretty much secured. We lived in Brisbane for a few years previously, I'm a geologist and got a job out there straight after university. The downturn after the mining boom brought us back home as I was on a business visa and my wife needed to finish her degree so we decided to come back home. We have always wanted to move back once we had kids etc. Took us a while to get the visa and now we have got it in what looks like the worse time. We are going to rent our house out here for a few years as well until we achieve PR then sell it to fund our house purchase in Oz when the time comes. That is the plan anyway. Saw from your other post you had lived there before as well 

[Jet88]

2 hours ago, Cots said:

I posted earlier in the year asking if we were mad to consider moving back to Oz after 7 years back home. Well we must be. I write this on day 6 of quarantine in a Brisbane hotel! It’s been 3 months and 10 days since we decided we’d put the house on the market and go for it and here we are! 

We flew Qatar as recommended by people here and it was a good move. The flight had 50 passengers to Doha and 165 to Brisbane so we had a row each. The most relaxing flights I’ve ever taken! Check in for just my family took an hour and 15 minutes with a number of forms and calls to Australia to check the validity of our visas. At the other side the flight landed at 4pm and we arrived in to our hotel at 9:30pm with plenty of waiting around in between. The nurse taking temperatures said it had been their busiest night for some time.

We’re in a 2 bed apartment in Brisbane with balconies and a view of the city and it is far better than we could have hoped for with more food arriving at the door  than we can eat. All in all not the worst experience in the world  

Hi wow sounds like you lucked out with the hotel room.did you know which hotel you were going to before you arrived? We are looking at flying back around oct/Nov and will have a 2 year old

so really worried we will be one of the unlucky ones and end up in a Premier Inn type room only! 

Also how far in advance did you book your flights? 

 

Thanks 

[Cots]

7 hours ago, Jet88 said:

Hi wow sounds like you lucked out with the hotel room.did you know which hotel you were going to before you arrived? We are looking at flying back around oct/Nov and will have a 2 year old

so really worried we will be one of the unlucky ones and end up in a Premier Inn type room only! 

Also how far in advance did you book your flights? 

 

Thanks 

 

We booked at the end of March for a flight on May 7th. We were told by the nurse taking temperatures that she had heard we were all going to the Broadbeach Sofitel which we were quite excited about but when we got out of the airport to the next ‘holding area’ my family and only 1 other family of 4 were separated and told we were going to the Mantra on Edwards. We thought we we were missing out until we got here. We cheered when the door was shut behind us because we really felt like we’d won the lottery. The hotel made note of the twins birthdays and brought them gifts, cake and cards which was so thoughtful. Another family of 4 we had been speaking to were told they were also coming here but they asked to go to the Sofitel and their request was approved. Bad move in my opinion! 

[Nemesis]

15 hours ago, Jet88 said:

Hi wow sounds like you lucked out with the hotel room.did you know which hotel you were going to before you arrived? We are looking at flying back around oct/Nov and will have a 2 year old

so really worried we will be one of the unlucky ones and end up in a Premier Inn type room only! 

Also how far in advance did you book your flights? 

 

Thanks 

Speaking only for Queensland, they cannot confirm the hotel until shortly before arrival as they are juggling a lot of factors - number of people needing family rooms, people checking out and rooms needing a clean - extra time needed for that if they have a positive result and have to deep clean the room, staff available, also any maintenance the rooms need. The aim is to have as many people from one flight as possible in the same hotel - easier for tracking what day people will be leaving etc - but this isn't always possible.

So treat with caution any promise of a particular hotel as it can change at very short notice.

[Jon the Hat]

17 hours ago, Cots said:

The flights cost £10150 for 5 of us  

Ouch!  I was getting excited for a bit but now thinking you made it because you paid more.  I have gone economy and hoping I don't regret it!  Not flying till september.

[Cots]

This was economy!  If I’d booked the flights back in February then we’d have spent half the price but we wanted to leave as soon as possiible. I definitely think that Qatar as recommended, have been very reliable. Doha was a very busy airport.

 

[Ausvisitor]

7 hours ago, Cots said:

This was economy!  If I’d booked the flights back in February then we’d have spent half the price but we wanted to leave as soon as possiible. I definitely think that Qatar as recommended, have been very reliable. Doha was a very busy airport.

 

Yep Qatar is over £2k per person economy every day between now and Oct 30th.

Oct 31st it goes down to sub £1k

Guess which day we are flying on

[Nora]

Australia: the place to be. 

Very admirable of you and your family to make the big move during these crazy times. Wishing you all the best, you guys will do just fine.

Welcome back to the Sunny State.

[Jon the Hat]

On 14/05/2021 at 15:58, Ausvisitor said:

Yep Qatar is over £2k per person economy every day between now and Oct 30th.

Oct 31st it goes down to sub £1k

Guess which day we are flying on

I guess they sold all the standard economy.  We paid £2500 for 3 adults 1 child mid September back in March.

[bowbow]

Is the sense that Qatar have been more reliable in terms of not bumping people off purely anecdotal, or does anyone know of any stats to back it up?  Just wondering whether to book with Qatar, Emirates or Singapore.  This won't be until towards the start of November most likely. 

[Jon the Hat]

2 hours ago, bowbow said:

Is the sense that Qatar have been more reliable in terms of not bumping people off purely anecdotal, or does anyone know of any stats to back it up?  Just wondering whether to book with Qatar, Emirates or Singapore.  This won't be until towards the start of November most likely. 

I chose Qatar because they are flexible and were actually flying from the UK to Perth when I booked.  They are the only country not to stop transit at some point.  EG SIA stopped transit through Changi unless you could stay on the plane, which rules out Perth as the planes don't do there.  Emirates were also impacted at one point by DXB restictions.

[Cots]

In London and Doha it appeared that large  amounts of cargo were being put on the plane and one fellow passenger  suggested it might be one of the reasons they’ve kept going, because they were doubling up their useage. As I said previously, there was under 100 on London flight and 165 on flight from Doha so maybe they’re committed to travel to due to their cargo? 

[paulhand]

3 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

I chose Qatar because they are flexible and were actually flying from the UK to Perth when I booked.  They are the only country not to stop transit at some point.  EG SIA stopped transit through Changi unless you could stay on the plane, which rules out Perth as the planes don't do there.  Emirates were also impacted at one point by DXB restictions.

I agree ... they are, I believe, the only airline that has had no suspension of flights between The UK and Australia. They have even added destinations such as Brisbane which they didn’t serve before. They also improve load factors by continuing some flights on to Auckland. I also agree that cargo is likely a factor in the economics of it ... during SARS back in the day, Cathay Pacific flew many planes literally empty because cargo revenues covered the costs. 

[bowbow]

Thanks everyone

[Johndoe]

Welcome back to the best City in Oz. Hope you land on your feet.

[Jon the Hat]

On 17/05/2021 at 21:30, Cots said:

In London and Doha it appeared that large  amounts of cargo were being put on the plane and one fellow passenger  suggested it might be one of the reasons they’ve kept going, because they were doubling up their useage. As I said previously, there was under 100 on London flight and 165 on flight from Doha so maybe they’re committed to travel to due to their cargo? 

Possibly, but they are also not a commercial airline like Qantas etc , they (and Etihad, Emirates) have Billions of petrodollars behind them, and seem to be seeing this as an opportunity to expand their network and demand.

[Ausvisitor]

1 hour ago, Jon the Hat said:

Possibly, but they are also not a commercial airline like Qantas etc , they (and Etihad, Emirates) have Billions of petrodollars behind them, and seem to be seeing this as an opportunity to expand their network and demand.

They absolutely are a commercial airline, the fact their investors have huge financial reserves doesn't mean they aren't commercial

[Jon the Hat]

48 minutes ago, Ausvisitor said:

They absolutely are a commercial airline, the fact their investors have huge financial reserves doesn't mean they aren't commercial

I guess what I am saying is they are playing a very different strategy to say Qantas or BA, who are minimising losses by not flying half empty planes.  I know a guy senior at Emirates who has been briefed on this strategy.