When is the best time to book flights to Sydney?

Q I want to fly to Sydney in January or February. When is the optimal time to book to get the best price?

Sally J

A If all you really want is a return ticket from the UK to Sydney, then my answer is: at least a few hours before the flight, to allow you time to get to the airport. If you like a bit more certainty, then perhaps a few days ahead. Or maybe even weeks. But certainly not many months.

Allow me to explain this apparently cavalier advice. The last time I went to Sydney, Covid tests were required. I certainly wasn’t going to pay for a flight until I had a negative test certificate. So I booked the night before departure. That requirement has gone, but if you are solely seeking the best deal between the UK and Australia’s largest city – and not wishing to build in stopovers or other elements – then this is one occasion when waiting until the last minute is unlikely to disadvantage you.

The first few days of January 2024 will be busy with people returning home after Christmas, but after that it will be low season. Before the coronavirus pandemic, at off-peak times the last-minute traveller could always rely on a decent deal on Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong or United via various US points. Typically the fare was £800 return or so. I have just looked for tomorrow, and the best available (returning in two weeks’ time) is almost twice as much – on United, out via Los Angeles, back via San Francisco.

Fares will remain high until more capacity returns to the market. That is likely to happen fairly quickly once the airlines of China are back in the fray; they long provided the cheapest seats down under, but for the past three years Covid has kept them grounded. Ten months from now, I expect to see much livelier competition, and I hope you may be able to find something below £1,000. Perhaps start looking in November, when there may be some seat sales, but otherwise just relax until a few days before departure.

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Q I am flying to Atlanta on 5 April. Are there talks of a strike at Heathrow Terminal 5 at that time?

Joyce

A Yes, the expectation is that around 1,400 security staff belonging to the Unite union will walk out at Heathrow airport over the Easter holidays in a dispute over what the union calls “poverty wages”. The strike is due to begin this Friday and continue until Easter Sunday, 9 April.

Talks between the airport’s management and Unite ended last week without agreement, and no further negotiations are planned.

So what will the effect be? Most of the union members are employed on the passenger security check at Heathrow Terminal 5, with the remainder operating control posts around the airport which give vehicles “airside” access.

Anyone flying from other terminals need not be concerned – except about the possibility that catering may not reach their aircraft. Any effect on departing passengers will be felt on British Airways flights from Terminal 5 – which means a large majority of BA services. An airport spokesperson tells me: “We will not let these unnecessary strikes impact the hard-earned holidays of our passengers. Our contingency plans will keep the airport operating as normal throughout.”

The airport says the entire management team will be on duty, with a total of 1,000 extra staff deployed. But because of strict rules on aviation security, the absence of so many trained and qualified staff will doubtless be felt. The main squeeze is likely to be this coming weekend; by Wednesday 5 April, when you are due to travel, the crowds will have eased.

I have identified a key element in the coping strategy: British Airways stopping selling outbound short-haul flights from Terminal 5 for the first weekend (31 March-2 April). This will keep a lid on numbers but should not lead to cancelled flights. The plan is that planes will continue to take off, but with fewer passengers than expected due to the block on sales.

To your considerable advantage is the timing of the British Airways Atlanta departure: 4.10pm, which will be long after the morning peak of flights. At this stage, I would do nothing except watch and wait. It may BA offers the chance to postpone your flight penalty-free, but I believe you can expect to fly as normal.

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Q I read your article (News, today) about a couple from Hastings who had been wrongly told by Tui that one passport was not valid for travel to Spain. Any idea what would have happened if they’d just turned up at the airport to check-in?

Kevin R

A Anne and Brian, the would-be holidaymakers, contacted me from their home in Hastings on Saturday. They had been assured on multiple occasions by Tui staff that Anne’s passport was not valid for their 10-day trip to Tenerife, which was due to depart from London Gatwick on Sunday. They were repeatedly told by different departments of Europe’s biggest holiday company that they had lost the £1,700 they had paid for the holiday. The justification turned out to be a made-up rule that passports cannot be used to travel to Europe beyond nine years, nine months after issue.

As you may imagine, this was extremely distressing news for the couple – who are both 79 years old – and all the more so because the passport was perfectly valid. Anne is entitled to travel out to the European Union any time over the next four weeks for a stay of up to 90 days.

After I contacted Tui’s management, the company contacted the couple and confirmed the passport was valid for travel. A spokesperson said: “Our teams are trained to provide customers with factual and accurate information, on this occasion we did not do that. We are very sorry for the distress and inconvenience this has caused.”

Suppose, though, they had not been able to contact me but had decided in any event to try going to the airport. There was clearly, from their point of view, a high chance that the misinformation had permeated the whole Tui operation – and that airline ground staff would repeat the mistake and ban Anne from the flight. Were this to happen, Anne would certainly qualify for £350 in denied boarding compensation; while Brian would technically not have been turned away, I cannot imagine a court rejecting a similar claim from him.

I like to think, though, that the professional ground staff at Gatwick would have checked the passport and confirmed its validity. But it is most regrettable that a giant organisation whose mission is to take people on great holidays failed so dismally on this occasion.

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