Lie flat seat from Australia to UK, or...

malc_b

My daughter has hurt herself just before she was due to fly home. Now I think we have 2 options, wait until she is 100% better (weeks, months?) or find a travel method that doesn't make her sit for hours. So any cheap way to get business class seats? Or a route home that has frequent stops? All the flights I can find seem quite long. Due to the position of Australia I guess.

Mr_Lahey

malc_b wrote: »

My daughter has hurt herself just before she was due to fly home. Now I think we have 2 options, wait until she is 100% better (weeks, months?) or find a travel method that doesn't make her sit for hours. So any cheap way to get business class seats? Or a route home that has frequent stops? All the flights I can find seem quite long. Due to the position of Australia I guess.

Wouldn't her travel Insurance be able to help?

Or perhaps a cal to the airline might guarantee her some bulkhead seats? Then she could stretch out and just make sure she gets up and walks about every now and then.

malkie76

Being hurt most likely will prevent you from getting allocated an exit row due to not being fully able to help in an emergency. As soon as you mention any issue to the airline you won't get exit rows, and on-board CC will move you.

Getting business seats at short notice will be prohibitive expensive, and insurance probably won't pay for those. Your better option would be to approach the airline (possibly through your insurer) and ask for an entire row of economy seats to be allocated (and paid for), allowing your daughter to lie flat across four seats. Cheaper option for you and the insurer.

Probably just waiting until she's 100% better is the best option, assuming your insurer agrees.

Mr_Lahey

malkie76 wrote: »

Being hurt most likely will prevent you from getting allocated an exit row due to not being fully able to help in an emergency. As soon as you mention any issue to the airline you won't get exit rows, and on-board CC will move you.
.

Of course, completely forgot!

malc_b

The 4 seats is an interesting idea. Price wise single economy is ~£600, and the cheapest business is £2200 (next is 2900 and goes up from there). So 4 seats are more expensive, how wide would 3 be I wonder? Accommodation is about £50/day plus food. So difference to business is ~£1600 or about a month or less. The unknown is how long extra recovery is required. Lie flat seats should be ok pretty soon, bed rest is fine, but hunched in economy would be not good (think bad back).

I was hoping for alternatives I'd missed. The insurance route is not possible BTW.

richardw

There are ways of taking it in stages, what is the medical advice?

dmg24

Is she actually fit to fly?

The issue with buying multiple economy seats is that there is no guarantee these would be together. Also, whilst a row of seats is better than a single seat, it is far from comfortable.

Could you elaborate on what is wrong with her/ why insurance is not an option?

richardw

In stages, perhaps get to Perth-Bangkok-Almaty-Istanbul-London.

malkie76

The insurance route is not possible BTW.

eeek - sounds like a lesson to be learned somewhere in there!

The issue with buying multiple economy seats is that there is no guarantee these would be together

They would be together, as there's no way to buy multiple seats without contacting the airline directly. ie if you bought more than one seat in your name the others are cancelled for name conflictions.

To the OP - personally I'd approach the airline and tell them of your situation - if they have a quiet flight they might reserve a row of seats at the back of the plane (the ones which don't recline and hence are very undesirable). You may not be charged anymore that you already have.

dzug1

There can be 'companion' offers on business class fares. I know Wexas sometimes offer them (you'd have to 'join' but there's often a free or cheap trial membership).

Still not cheap though.

malkie76

Companion tickets (in my experience) are only available on the more expensive business class ticket brackets (otherwise everyone would be doing it). It allows your partner to travel with you cheaply when your company are paying for fully flex tickets.

However, it's not clear from the OP if they are travelling together. I almost get the impression he is trying to find a way to get his daughter home, however he's isn't actually with her.

Contact the airline and see what they can do.