WhatToDo82

Reading another thread has got me wondering. My dad lives in Egypt and always tries to book his flights from the UK as a return. As even an open return from the UK is cheaper than a return from Egypt. So, is there a difference in cost to/from NZ?

I've estimated £800 each from UK and returns seem to be a similar price.

Would a return flight from NZ be around $1600? Or would it be more? Or is it just that in NZ, $1600 feels a whole lot more than £800 in the UK?

I hope that makes sense!

Bo-Jangles

You'll be looking at about $2.5k for the standard fares with usual major airlines - you may of course find cheaper / special deals / off peak etc, with some lesser known or budget airlines, or by going on an extra long journey routed through three stops and such but you'll not likely find anything for less than $2.2k

Try expedia.co.nz for some ideas.

WhatToDo82

Yikes, big difference indeed!

Jan n Neil

You do get overcharged for flights here it really pisses me off

As above expect to pay 2.5k for a return from here i,m going in June and booked in January and managed to get them for 2 k but there crap flights with about 4 stops

Neil

BEVS

As per the above posts. $2500 is a ball park figure.


I manage to get my husband back every 18 months or so to see his aged Mum although this time round it may well have to be 2 years.

To us, frankly , it is around 3 weeks net income and is a hard save to achieve.

Others earning more will find it far more affordable depending on family circumstances.

WhatToDo82

Thanks. I guess we will not be coming back for visits all that often... Was only thinking 2-3 yearly anyway, mainly to see my mum who's in a nursing home. For everyone else (the ex's parents and my dad) it might be worth contributing to their fare to NZ and putting them up instead.

Northern Henry

Is there no scope in routing through oz and pick up your long haul from there?

BEVS

Makes no odds for us.

We also incur the costs to get to an NZ international airport.

Tom1983

There is no way of getting a cheap flight. Makes matters worse that the reliable Air Asia don't fly anymore to England

I looked at doing a Jetstar flight from Christchurch to Singapore and then a Singapore Airlines flight to a european country cheaper than entering the United Kingdom, and then a reliable Ryan Air flight onwards. Nothing that's cheaper

It's about $1,399.99 one way from Auckland to London as an example. Then add on extras such as NZ tax etc. Even with fly buys or airpoints, you're still looking at around $599 just in taxes to go. Then there's London taxations ouch!

I'm hoping to send my wife and son to Birmingham in September before he turns 2. There's no way all of us can go due to costs. I'd love to return to Blighty for a trip to see the in laws but due to holiday shortages, i wouldn't get paid. One other thing to note about, holiday at work is earned, you can't take say 3 weeks and expected to be paid if you haven't worked 6 months for example. The holidays act will give you more of an idea

It's a well known rip off that has been highlighted so many times that it's cheaper for internationals to come to NZ instead of Kiwis jetting off. Be prepared to hear 4 million a lot.

Assanah

That's a dream most expats dream. Most of the time the family doesn't visit often. Maybe once. Nobody really wants the long flights. And elderly often simply can'tfly that long anymore.
So either you are lucky and your family loves spending long hours on the plane or you earn a lot of money or be prepared to not seeing your family very often anymore. If you fly every 5 years you can probably count on one hand how often you will see your parents before there are gone. I hope NZ is worth. For me it wasn't. Good luck with your move!

Justcol

It all depends on what time of years they want to come.
The best prices I have found through Expedia.co.uk was £650 return, that worked out at $1300.
That was for flights leaving the uk (manchester) on 21st Feb and returning around 2 weeks later.

As your post is rather confusing I will reiterate that that was for all flights needed to get you here and home again, $1300 total

WhatToDo82

My parents are still quite young (60 last year) but my mum is not well, stable but she has many health problems. The ex's parents are also young and it's more for them than us. My mum is happy we're going and has already said she dohbts we'll be back much if at all, we are setting her up on Skype in a few weeks for when we're gone. So, I don't suppose it'll be much bother for me, I hardly see my dad anyway - I like it that way

Sorry for the confusing first post. I was after prices from NZ to UK return. Although it's still useful to know February is cheapest the other way around, in case I am putting towards them visitng us in NZ

M_and_M

I had a really great record with my UK bank who were happy for me to keep my UK Cc (no balance, huge credit limit) and account. That's my emergency fund.

gazmac

I tried to get my old man to book flights for us (NZ>UK RTN) from Scotland and the travel agents couldnt do it and gave the usual excuses , taxes, echange rates ect ect all of which are BS.

I have tried picking a flight and then mirroring the exact flight in return (NZ>UK RTN & UK>NZ RTN) and the difference is vast - was over 900 UKP between the two.

I tried calling the airlines to find out why this was and got no answer that made any sense.

This is a very frustrating problem.

WhatToDo82

It's most bizarre. Do they not realise that if it was more comparable then folks would fly to the UK for visits more often, thus they would actually make MORE money? What about the comparable cost of getting a UK bod to book two one way flights? Wonder if that might still be cheaper than a return from NZ? Like I said, my dad has found a similar problem with flights from Cairo, cheaper for him to book an open return from the UK for his yearly visits.