Hino

My wife is Australian and she and I will be visiting UK next spring. We were hoping to save on flight expenses by getting a one way from Oz to UK and then arranging return transport once we get to UK. As I have duel citizenship it's not a problem for myself but she will be travelling on and Australian passport. Will she have to have her return transportation booked when she arrives in UK ?

She has at least one grandparent born in UK if this alters her circumstances any.

Many thanks for any information.

Hino

Sherlock Holmes

I can't do the legalities bit but when I was travelling back and forth Oz - UK regularly, the price of a single ticket was nearly as high as a return - although and open ended return can be pricey.

(edited to say, I'd forgotten how much cheaper it is to book from the UK, so it might save you some money but see further below)

You might like to check prices first, and apologies in advance if I'm wrong.

I did find this from the interweb:

http://www.frommers.com/destinations...221020032.html

All U.S. citizens, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, and South Africans must have a passport with at least 2 months' validity remaining. No visa is required. A passport will allow you to stay in the country for up to 6 months. The immigration officer will also want proof of your intention to return to your point of origin (usually a round-trip ticket) and of visible means of support while you're in Britain.

I don't think that granny will have any bearing on the situation.

Hope this helps.

Hino

Thanks mate,

We are both retired with time and funds on our hand so the flexibility of not being tied to a return date or departure point has it's attractions. I mentioned her ancestry because many years ago she obtained a work visa that I believe was granted on the grounds of her ties to UK.

Thanks for the link though, looks as though she might have to book a return after all

Beoz

Most of the time, this theory is flawed because airlines put the bulk of the costs in the outward journey.

The cheapest way to do this is buy a return flight (air asia or scoot) to singapore and then buy a return flight from singapore to london. Singapore allows you to buy flights at locals prices.

Also you can try getting an ipblocker on your computer so the airlines can't detect where you are buying the ticket from.

GarryP

Thought I'd check that postulate. Cheapest flights :

$1487 return
$889 single
$556+$223 = $779 (single Scoot + single cheapest)
£674 ($1044) UK reverse return

So even though you can't quite get half the fare for the one way, its not too dissimilar. And tickets from here to there are a rip off.

Hino

Hi Beoz,

This, or a variation of it, is what I've been doing for a couple of years now. I realised that UK to Oz flights were much cheaper than the same trip in the opposite direction, so I used FF points for a "free" one way to London and then booked a return ticket from LHR to SYD. I'm retired, so I can be real flexible with travel dates. I now visit UK about twice a year in the spring and autumn and find that booking from UK rather than Oz is a big saving.

As you say, the Singapore option offers even more flexibility with the advantage of having a Singapore stopover thrown in for free......I love Singapore

I presently have the return half of Scoot ticket back to Singapore from Sydney which I will use on my next UK trip, but in future I think I'll use Air Singapore for that section of the journey. I'm getting a little too long in the tooth to 'enjoy' discount airlines and the rather interesting schedules they fly. For me, having to catch the 02.00 Scoot flight from SIN to SYD either means booking an extra nights accommodation ( which I won't use ), or being without a private space for almost 24 hours.

Plus when you start adding up the add-ons that you need to purchase to survive your Scoot trip I don't think that the savings are that great. The flight from SYD to SIN is OK, but the return leg is a killer

quoll

My husband entered UK on an Aus passport with a one way ticket back in March and they didn't bat an eyelid just stamped him with a 6 month stay. OTOH on another board a chap was nearly denied entry because he didn't have a return ticket. It may be to do with how you look and what it looks like your intentions may be - my DH at that point was on his third entry in 6 months, is retired and, as it happens, was in the process of getting UK citizenship although they wouldn't have known that then. The other chap was much younger so could conceivably been wanting to work and I believe he may have looked, well, somewhat alternative!

If your wife can get an ancestry visa then that makes things a whole lot easier!

commonwealth

why would any aussie want to overstay in the uk

chris955

They regularly do it all the time.

moneypenny20

Because it's an awesome country presumably.

Pollyana

Life's too short to type the whole list, besides I'd rather spend my last few days on the awesome side of the world by enjoying its delights, rather than listing them

Hino

Thanks for that Quoll,

She's over seventy so I don't think she'll be suspected of looking for work

I'll look into the "ancestry visa" situation, but it might be easier to book her a return ticket or at least make return travel arrangements before arriving in UK. At the moment we are traveling on different flights and I was hoping that we could 'get in sinc' by her arriving in UK on one way ticket.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Thanks for your help.

Beoz

I can't understand your breakdown .... how about some airlines and locations next to those prices

Beoz

Because the work holiday visa is short, they want to stay on (for a little while) etc etc. I know 2 dudes who did it 10 years ago, kept working, for nearly 2 years.

Beoz

Never flown Scoot myself. I'm happy to spend a little more to get a little more.

I recently did Singapore Airlines Sing - Syd Return and Qantas Sing - London Return. The stoppover was about 6 hours. Got the $15 Sing taxi ride into town, bought some clothes (I refuse to buy clothes in Oz) and went and had a pepper crab. Back out to the airport for the flight to London. It broke up the journey really nicely and the whole trip was a third less than if I'd booked Syd - London direct. Obviously the price diff can change a different times of the year, demand, and all that jazz.