Rushing back to the UK / Ireland due to a death?
 

Hey guys,

The thread title may initially seem a bit premature but I'm just wondering if any of you have needed to rush back to the UK / Ireland due to a death in the family?
The reason being is that I rang my Dad in Ireland last night and it turns out he's in hospital - he had issues with his heart and was admitted to hospital. Not a heart attack just a really irregular heartbeat. It's looking like he will be fine.

I guess stuff like this always played on my mind that eventually, and inevitably, we all end up dying (as morbid as that sounds) and it's going to be the case that one day I will indeed get the dreaded phonecall that Dad has passed away.

I know the flight back to Ireland at best is around 28 - 30 hours when booked. Has anyone ever had to try and orgsnise a flight back home quickly - was it easy / hard to get a flight on such short notice?

Cheers

Re: Rushing back to the UK / Ireland due to a death?
 

I did it nearly two years ago.My Dad was ill in the hospice just before Christmas.I booked with Qantas and the price was fairly reasonable.I did manage to get there on time and so glad I did.Sadly both my parents passed away while I was there.
If your gut feeling is telling you to go just book it.You won't regret it.
Sorry to hear your father isn't well.

Re: Rushing back to the UK / Ireland due to a death?
 

Loads of sympathy, had to do it a few years back.

Most airlines will try their best to get you on a flight as long as you tell them the reason for it - but it may not always be cheap. Don't bother shopping around for prices, go for the big airlines and take what they offer. I flew back with Qantas wh were excellent, even offered to have a staff member with me during the transit in Singapore. I would suggest - make sure you have the money on a cedit card ready to use if necessary, and be completely honest, not just when booking but also tell the crew when yu board, or ask when booking that a note gets put on your booking for the cabin crew. Even if you don't need the support its good to know its available.

Re: Rushing back to the UK / Ireland due to a death?
 

Sorry to hear about that.

My boyfriend was in a similar situation. He had to take the next available flight to Ireland. It wasn't so much of a hassle though, thankfully. He called Student Flight Centre (it was well past midnight), and got it all booked over the phone.

Hope you won't be in that situation.

Re: Rushing back to the UK / Ireland due to a death?
 

Thanks ever so much for the replies guys. It's looking like he's going to be fine, I'm just wondering about that awful time in the future when it happens for real. It's something alot of expats have to deal with at some point I imagine.

Re: Rushing back to the UK / Ireland due to a death?
 

Last week my dad collaspe but its all good. I was worried some might happen when our passports were getting renewed recently - what would you do then - all the hassle.

My big worry is who would mind my kids while I'm away - I wouldn't be able to afford for us all to go back.....

Hopefully it a long way off........

my thoughts are with you........

Re: Rushing back to the UK / Ireland due to a death?
 

Sorry to hear you had a scare!

My folks always said not to go back if one of them died - what's the point, they said! However, I always said that there's nothing a credit card and a passport wouldn't fix. I'd have been rocking up to the airport with plastic and passport in hand and getting the first flight I could and thinking about paying for it after. That reminds you to always keep your passports current though!

Re: Rushing back to the UK / Ireland due to a death?
 

Just remember that going back to see them before they die is for them - going back for the funeral is for you and the rest of the family. For a number of reasons (divorce, new job, lack of money) I missed seeing my mother before she died and have always felt guilty about that - but not about missing her funeral. We went back for my dad's 92nd birthday and he died a few weeks later: that time I did go to the funeral.

Re: Rushing back to the UK / Ireland due to a death?
 

Always keep your passport updated and space on your credit card.You just never know.

Re: Rushing back to the UK / Ireland due to a death?
 

Cathay Pacific were completely uninterested when I told them at check in why we were going back. We were hoping to see the mother before she died but she decided she'd had enough two hours before we left for the airport. I just booked the first cheapest flight I could find online. Personally depending on what the medical issue is with a loved one, a flying visit back whilst they're relatively still 'with it' is way more important than going back for the funeral. We got the funeral but I could easily have done without it if I'd not already sorted the flights.

Re: Rushing back to the UK / Ireland due to a death?
 

Four years ago this week we got the dreaded call about my father-in-law. My husband was in Melbourne at the time, in the middle of a meeting and was ignoring my repeated calls to his mobile! I had to get his secretary (in Perth) to ring the conference centre and get someone there to go into the room and drag him out. I knew time was of the essence, and an hour had already gone past trying to get hold of him. Hubby went straight to his hotel room, packed up his stuff and jumped in a taxi to the airport, while his secretary booked the flights for him and cancelled all his meetings for the next two weeks. Time between me getting that phone call and him getting onto a Qantas flight was around 6 hours.

His sisters told his dad that he was on his way, but he kept asking "is he here yet?". They reminded him how long it takes to travel from Australia but in his morphine-induced state he kept drifting in and out of sleep and didn't really have any sense of time. My husband arrived at his dad's bedside the next morning; his dad died the following day.

My husband was lucky that he was able to call on a secretary to organise everything for him and his boss was very understanding through it all, telling him not to hurry back after the funeral, do what you have to do to help your mum etc. Very lucky that he made it back in time too.

I'm glad I've never had to deal with this on my side of the family yet; as with 3 young children at school it would have made it more difficult for me to organise everything, having to send them off to friends etc and it would have been worse if they were right in the middle of exams or anything. Now that they are all adults, at least that will make it easier for me to drop everything and go. And I will have my sister for company on the long journey over (she lives near me); no doubt we will both be in a right state. Not something I'm looking forward to but knowing it will happen at some point in the future.

Re: Rushing back to the UK / Ireland due to a death?
 

Emigration means that you may never see the family again. Some people never come to terms with that.

Re: Rushing back to the UK / Ireland due to a death?
 

I had to do it 5 weeks after I moved to Australia because my father died suddenly. I haddock to get flights on the day because there were no available seats for the rest of the week because it was the first week of the year and fully booked. The seats were first class and from memory it cost me about A$20k one way.

Re: Rushing back to the UK / Ireland due to a death?
 

I have twice had to do it. Once from Bermuda and once from Australia. Just booked the flights and went, I flew from Bermuda same day and arrived at the family home before my sister who got the train from Cornwall. From Australia I flew a few days after the event and bcworld found me flights through that air miles scheme.

Re: Rushing back to the UK / Ireland due to a death?
 

My wife had the call 10 days ago. 8pm thurs night she got a call from her mum saying dad was ill, we thought we'd have a couple of weeks to sort out a rrv as we haven't took citizenship yet, but an hour later mum rang back to say he'd died.
Paid $354 for the online rrv application & it was granted by 3pm friday & liz flew back with emirates at 6am Saturday, she was going with or without the rrv.
Looked online at prices $2000 ish but her boss used her frequent flyer points & told us to sort it out later ($2350) & ordered a 300 c hire car to pick her up at 2 am as I was working at 3am.
Funeral was yesterday & I have to pick her up at 10.30 pm on Thursday but I'm currently doing the late shift setting up the v8 super car track at Olympic park so I hope I can make it on time.