lonely planet -volunteer abroad guide

Airline Tickets

If you are a self-funding volunteer or going through a sending agency that requires you
arrange your own flights, here’s a quick reminder of how to get the best deals.

Seasonal Limits

Think carefully about your departure date, because the price of your ticket will depend on
this. Try to avoid departing during school and major national holidays, as all airline fares
are at their peak during these times.

When to Purchase

Ideally, you should start looking for bargain fares eight to 12 months in advance of your
departure date. You may get cheap tickets at the last minute but this is rare, even if seats
are still available. Unfortunately, many of the best deals will require you to pay in full
soon after booking. And special or bargain fares often don’t allow changes or carry heavy
change penalties (which are rarely covered by your travel insurance).

Maximum Time Limits

If you are volunteering for more than a year, it is likely you won’t be able to use the return
portion of your ticket. This is because it is virtually impossible to find a ticket that allows
you to be away for more than 12 months. It may still be cheaper for you to buy a return
(rather than a single fare) and simply not use the return flight. However, before you go
down this route, do some research on the Web to see how much it’ll cost to buy a ticket
home from your placement.

Cancellation Penalties

These vary considerably but cancelling your ticket once it’s booked may mean you lose
the entire value of your ticket. (Most travel insurance policies protect against unavoid-
able cancellation fees but only if the reason for cancelling is one covered by the particular
policy you took out.)

Refund Policy

Sometimes volunteers want to extend their placements when in the field. If you do this and
don’t use a certain portion or sector of your airline ticket, it is unlikely you’ll get a refund.
Most airline tickets are sold on a ‘non-refundable if part used’ basis. And don’t rely on
what you’re told about refund value by overseas travel agents or airline office staff – staff
in Nairobi, for example, don’t know all the rules of a discounted ticket sold by an agent in
another country. If you are entitled to a refund, this can usually be arranged only through
the travel agency where your ticket was purchased (and it may take several months). This
isn’t terribly useful if you’re volunteering in the middle of Africa somewhere.

Change Penalties
There are three main types of changes: name changes, date changes and route changes. It’s
very rare that a name change will be permitted. As regards dates, there are usually restric-
tions on changing your departure date from your home country. However, if volunteer-
ing is only a part of a much longer trip, the dates of onward flights can often be changed
(subject to seat availability). Although in many cases date changes are free, quite hefty fees
can be levied depending on the rules of the ticket (and the policies of the travel agency and
the airline(s) concerned). In some cases, tickets will allow no date changes at all. Route
changes may be possible but usually attract a fee, and where they are permitted there is
likely to be a stipulation as to how many route changes you’re allowed (often only one).

Stopover Limits

Most fares restrict the number of stopovers permitted. Again, this is mostly relevant for

volunteers who intend to travel independently before or after a placement.

Types of Tickets

You could write an entire book on the many types of airline tickets (although it might not

be a very interesting one). But there are four main categories of ticket that international

volunteers might want to buy: discount return, open-jaw or one-way tickets, and air passes.

Discount Return Tickets

If you plan to fly in and out of one country, all you need is a normal return ticket. How-

ever, if you want to see a little more of the world, either on the way out or the way back,

then you can usually add in some stopovers – often at no extra cost.

Open-Jaw Tickets

With these tickets you fly into one destination and out of another. Again, this is an option if

you want to volunteer and also do a bit of travelling. You can fly straight to your volunteer

project and afterwards do some good old-fashioned overland travel before flying home.

One-Way Tickets

These might be an option if you are volunteering for more than one year. Proportionally,

a one-way long-haul ticket is expensive – almost always costing a lot more than half the

price of a return. In fact, they are sometimes even more expensive than a return. If you

only want a one-way ticket, check in case a return is cheaper. If it is, buy the return and

simply don’t use the homeward leg.

One drawback of one-way tickets is that you often have to show how you’re going to get

out of a country before you can get in (immigration officials may want to see an onward

ticket). Often, if you can prove that you’ve got sufficient funds for your stay and enough to

purchase an exit ticket (whether by air, land or sea), you should be fine.

Air Passes

To explore a large country in depth (eg Brazil, India or Malaysia), ask your travel agent

about air passes. These offer you a certain quota of flights within a single country. The

flights are worked out either using a points system, a total mileage limit or a number of

flights within one region. Air passes are often very good value, so long as journeys involv-

ing plane changes are not counted as separate flights.

For the international volunteer, these passes can be a cheap way of seeing more of the

country on weekends. However, there are two drawbacks: they are usually valid for 30 days

only (which means you have to do most of your travel in the first few weekends after your

arrival) and you usually have to buy them in advance of getting to the country.

Buying Your Tickets

Buying from Airlines

For short-haul flights buying from airlines is almost always the best plan. For long-haul

flights it’s almost always the worst plan. Firstly, airlines use travel agencies to sell tickets at

less than you can buy direct. Secondly, airlines won’t tell you about deals that their competi-

tors are offering. An agent’s job is to compare the best deals on different airlines for you.

Buying from Specialist Travel Agents

There are regular travel agents and then there are specialist travel agents. For a week in

the sun you’re better off visiting the former, but to book your flight to a volunteering

03: The Practicalities:

Airline Tickets