Short notice trip to the UK
 

Hi guys,

I haven't been around here for a fair while, so swimmingly has the transition to becoming a kiwi gone! I arrived 4 and a half years ago and became a resident this January via work to residence. I also just voted for the first time :).

Sadly my grandmother in the UK is in very poor health and it's not looking good. I'll be looking at booking a flight very soon depending on news, so any tips on lowering the cost would be good as it's caught me on the hop a bit - I have a trip booked for Christmas, so hoping insurance can cover cancelling that if needed.

Anything else to think about taking care of would be good.

Thanks,

Chris

Re: Short notice trip to the UK
 

Sorry to hear about your grandmother.
The only thing you can really do with flights is look around, try booking a day that most people don't really want to fly on and they do say looking on a Tuesday is cheaper. not sure if its true but worth a go I guess.

Re: Short notice trip to the UK
 

Thanks or that. I decided to go to the bank and ask for a credit card to at least allow me to purchase quickly and go if/when needed. I was probably more worried about cashflow, but this will help. See how it goes, but thanks again.

Re: Short notice trip to the UK
 

dont leave it too late

When my mum went I shot over as soon as I could but she passed before I got there.
You only get to say goodbye once.

Thursdays are generally cheapest

.

Re: Short notice trip to the UK
 

Contact China Southern immediately.

Cheapest airline by a mile. You may get a return for about $1700. One stop at Guangzhou and you won't need a China visa since you'll be in transit for less than 72 hours.

Re: Short notice trip to the UK
 

Dont know where your'e searching Tom but its easy to beat 1700
even short notice its only 1429 with Qatar

skyscanner flying out next week (just play around with departure and return dates to find the best price)

Re: Short notice trip to the UK
 

The other tip, and it requires more planning, is to break up the journey and book from other countries. Can sometimes work out cheaper.

Re: Short notice trip to the UK
 

We have been using ITA for the last few years - seven or eight - and have found it excellent.

https://matrix.itasoftware.com/

Just note YOU CANNOT BOOK on the sight only gain details of flight combinations that will work for you. Once you have the details take them to a friendly travel agent and ask them to book the flights for you.

First time we did it they baulked at the prices asking 'where did you get these?' but eventually came round and charge us $70 to $100 for their time. Was still cheaper.

Gradually finding airlines that do not allow their schedules to be pillaged (Ryanair is one - never mind) but it works all over the globe.

Good luck

Re: Short notice trip to the UK
 

In the next couple of weeks cheapest i found was $1271