Hello all. I know that I haven't been around much for some time but we have been having a really hectic and tough time with my eldest. He was pretty ill at the start of the year and spent some time in the local psych wing of the hospital. Things are settling down now and we are on the way to getting his meds straight and having him well again.
As many of you know he has never been happy here in Australia and being here is part of his problem (although only part). After discussion with family in the UK his Dad has agreed to have him back there for a while so that he can see whether he wants to be in the UK or here. I am in the process of looking for flights back to the UK and needless to say we need them as cheap as possible as we really haven't budgeted for any of this. Does anyone have any suggestions? Also I would be grateful if anyone who has travelled recently could give their impressions of various airports/ airlines as Sam is still not 100% and we need the journey to be as stress free as possible. The plan at the moment is for my ex to travel over here and pick up Sam so that he isn't travelling on his own. As you can imagine this is a pretty stressful time but I hope that being given the choice of where he wants to live might help him to find his feet again.
Also has anyone travelled with LOTS of medication and is there anything that you have to do in terms of labelling etc for customs? (I suppose he will need a doctor's certificate to cover him).
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated and I know that we are about to enter the UK silly season for flight prices but that is just the way it seems to go. I can't book anything until we know that his meds are stable enough for him to cope with the stress of the journey so it will be at least another few weeks.
Thanks and hopefully I will be back again properly soon :) .
Nicky

whichever airline he flies with will have to advise you on what he needs re his meds, he may need a docs certificate, he may not, it will depend on what he is carrying and the amount, but they will need to be aware of his meds and possibly will require a med cert for being fit enough to travel.

As for route vs price vs airline....... I'd always be inclined to plump for Singapore Airlines. Singapore is a relatively easy airport to transit, transit times are usually fairly short and the airline are among the best service wise, also should anything happen and they have to stop longer than expected in Singapore (for medical attention) there is no visa required by a UK passport holder.

I would avoid any Middle Eastern airline as i do know of occasions when carrying medication through customs in Dubai was an issue, no problem if transiting but if they did need to stop then they could have problems (mind you this can be said of any country).

I would also be taking out travel insurance but make doubly sure that it will cover anything that could possibly be caused by his condition, as many won't and as anything can happen to make travelling stressful for anyone you have to cover all eventualities.

I hope some time with his dad will help you all.

I must say that I have been leaning towards Singapore ecause he stopped over there when he went back last time so he knows the airport (sort of). I know that I will have to check with airlines and doctors once we are ready to book the flights but I really won't be comfortable until I know that he is safely at the other end without problems.
There really shouldn't be any need for medical care in transit but I need to minimise stress to avoid the weheels falling off after the flight. He can manage symptoms in the short term or else we wouldn't be sending him back at all, and with a person flying with him he should be OK. The doctors are OK about him going but we all want to wait until things are stable for a while. It is a good sign that although he wants to be there he doesn't feel that he is ready to go just yet, whereas when he was really sick he was happy to get on a plane there and then and convinced that he would be fine.
It is really hard to minimise stress when flying as the airports and carriers all seem bent on making it as stressful as they possibly can at the moment.
ANy how hopefully we will be ready to book in a few weeks and then I can get this next hurdle out of the way.
Thanks.
Nicky.

the last time my mother in law flew to aus and back she went with singapore, and they were great; she had a doctors letter outlining her medical conditions and what each medication was for - each item of her blood glucose monitoring was itemised in the letter, and she also had a letter from the hospital consultant as well as the one from the gp. she had a letter from the travel insurance company which detailed her medical problems and what they had covered her for ... so her prescription, gp and consultants letter all tallyed and said the same thing. she said the staff at customs in aus and singapore were more than helpful ... which was helped by the fact that when they booked the flights they specified she would require wheelchair transport (she didnt but they were overcautious).

Thanks for that. Sounds like I will try for Singapore and make sure that he is carrying a stack of paperwork, the doctors in the Uk need a full medical history anyway so he may aswell carry the info in his handluggage.
Nicky

If you go with singapore try to get the airbus 380 as economy is really good, larger more comfy seats etc
best of luck Lol xx