A slightly different sort of flight query

The Sweeper

Guys

Am considering bringing the oldies down to visit me in Australia, see the house and enjoy the good weather in Jan / Feb 2011. Having not won the lottery, I won't be paying for their tickets in their entirety, but have said I'll help and they've said they'll pay some.

Nothing is concrete yet - except for one thing. I don't think I can stick them on an economy class flight from Dublin to Melbourne. They're in their late seventies. If they had even a glimmer of some of the bad experiences I've had doing that trip in an economy seat, they'll be stretchered off the plane in Melbourne and I'll be trying to ship two bodies back to Ireland.

There are two choices; either fly them Dublin - Melbourne, or fly them Heathrow - Melbourne (they can stay with my brother overnight either side of a flight out of Heathrow).

Every time I fly this trip I fly out of London, and have tried airlines including Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways, China Eastern (yep, you got it, I like my travel cheap ).

I find myself wondering what would be best for them - perhaps I could fly them economy through Etihad from Heathrow to Dubai, then bump them up to business class for the 14 hour haul from Dubai to Melbourne? (There's the bonus that Dubai airport is really easy to navigate too...) The mother's agreed to go see a travel agent, but wants some basic suggestions to bring with her before she pops in so she knows half of what she's talking about.

Anyone here who could take five minutes out to play make-believe, pretend you're 77 years old - reasonably sprightly for your age, but not great at things like mobile phones and credit cards (and therefore unlikely to be able to get yourself out of a pickle at some airport in the Middle East for instance) - what route / airline / class do you think would be good?

603304529

Here's some disjointed comments from me..

I wouldn't make the fly out of Heathrow - its an extra flight - getting on and off planes, and generally mucking around. Etihad flies from Dublin to Abu Dhabi and then Abu Dhabi onwards (I assume they fly then to Melbourne - but I've never looked - my fam is all in Brissie)

Also apparently Abu Dhabi airport is small, in comparison to the big Asian airports (might be less intimidating...)

Let us know how they get on. My Irish parents in law are late 60's/early 70's, and I'd be interested to know how the "oldies" travel all the way. Its a bloody long trip!

watna

I flew emirates when I went home last month and I didn't think there was huge difference in the economy and business class, not for what you'd spend anyway. I flew from Melbourne and back through Brisbane.

However, business class consisted of pretty much only elderly couples so it looks like that is a common thing to do if you are a bit older and I'd imagine it would make a big difference to them. I would go with the option of getting them to fly economy from Heathrow to Dubai and then business from Dubai to Melbourne, if it's possible. The flight from Heathrow to Dubai wasn't too bad (6 hrs 50 minutes) but the flight to Melbourne was 15 hours I think and horrible. I was knocked out by valium but I still found it very wearing. It took three days for the swelling in my ankles to go down!

Dubai was easy enough to navigate too and we didn't have to walk to far from getting off the plane to getting on the connection.

I got return flights from Wellington to London for $2000NZD return which is quite good. Emirates have good deals.

anotherfinemess

I'd recommend Singapore Air with a stop off at Changi for a shower & walk around the indoor garden. I've done it 3 times. One time I had a godawful migraine & they were really sweet to me - found me 3 seats to myself to lie down on. That was economy. Above all avoid heathrow if poss!

mandrake04

anotherfinemess wrote: »

I'd recommend Singapore Air with a stop off at Changi for a shower & walk around the indoor garden. I've done it 3 times. One time I had a godawful migraine & they were really sweet to me - found me 3 seats to myself to lie down on. That was economy. Above all avoid heathrow if poss!

I recommend Singapore Airlines myself but if you go that route I am not sure how you would avoid Heathrow!!

anotherfinemess

Schipol (sp?). almost as bad as heathrow but not quite.

hussey

You can always try the beds with air asia?
the reclining chairs, they fly to melbourne, could get them a flight to london-> KL then KL -> Melbourn on a bed?

Chet Zar

Here's my take on this:

The flight back is much worse than the flight over there. So, if you want to go business class (which I don't doubt costs a fortune) - save it for the route back. As regards the trip over there, I'd break it up - maybe they could stop off somewhere like Malaysia/Hong Kong etc, if they were so inclined. They could stay a night and then get up for the final leg more refreshed. It's really the fact that you're doing it all in the one go that makes it tough.

NikNakOoo

Can I just suggest something different to what you've mentioned, but which people seem to forget about... health screen! You're your oldies to go to the doctor well before they leave so that they have enough medications and also for them to get advice on antiembolic stockings. My grandma flew to Europe a few years back and when she arrived we had to have a doctor make a visit at home due to the nasty leg swelling (poor dear has a bit of peripheral vascular disease.)

Back to the topic at hand, get them to ask the travel agent about seats in economy with more leg room.

mel.b

I always fly with Singapore airlines when travelling between Europe & Australia. The service and Changii airport is second to none.

You can avoid Heathrow by booking on the singapore website from Dublin. Some of the connecting flights will be through London, but others will be through frankfurt and I think even Paris if my memory is correct. However I don't think it's that bad transiting through LHR - they will arrive in T1 and it's well signposted to T3 for Singapore airlines. Coming back through london they will be able to transit airside which saves the long queue's at immigration.

Business class is expensive even if you are sharing the cost. As mentioned, look at getting exit row seats. Again, with Singapore you can prebook these online for an extra $50 or so. This will give them the room to stretch their legs.

As someone else mentioned you could also look at Air Asia and their premium seats which would be a lot cheaper than traditional business class but dearer than economy seats.

HTH,
Mel.b

The Sweeper

Thanks for the input guys. Still not sure what the plan will be. Re the health screen, it's compulsory for travellers over a certain age on various visitor visas - not sure about the e-visa. There is a reciprocal healthcare agreement between Ireland and Australia which means that if you hurt yourself on an Irish passport you are entitled to exactly the same free public hospital treatment you'd get if you were an Aussie - so in other words if they come down with something they can be treated and hospitalised without having to shell out tens of thousands. This doesn't cover elective surgeries, so they couldn't have their tonsils out for instance, but it provides peace of mind as my mother worries what'll happen if she has an attack of angina at 2am and panics and thinks she's having a heart attack but doesn't want to be in a position where she's scared to ring an ambulance.

I'm not sure about paying for an exit row for them. I get upset when I see doddering oldies in the exit rows, because the whole point is the person beside the emergency exit needs to be able to open it in a crisis - and I doubt me 77 year old mater could manage that!!

Been talking to an extensively travelled mate who suggested I sign them up to the members lounge so they could, for instance, relax before boarding, then shower and so on at Hong Kong even if they were to fly economy up to that point.

Begs more thought, but am not even sure if they'll go ahead - as the mammeh said recently, if she won the lotto she'd be down tomorrow.

Stinicker

I'd be advising an A380 for them and another option I would do if it were me would be bung a niece or nephew a free trip (or subsidised!) trip to accompany them as having a young fellow to drag their bags, and guide them through the airports would make the trip a breeze for them! If they were up for it why not break the trip up via Dublin - Abu Dhabi - Singapore allowing for medium lenght flights but more trouble.

My own parents are only in their late fifties and I am half afraid to let them go anywhere on there own having travelled extensively myself. My late Gran stopped flying around 68 and as a kid growing up she was a globe trotter flying back and forth to England in times when flights to there were serious money like £300 return!