Help with GAP year trip

[Temporiser]

Hope members can provide some guidance on the following scenario:

My 18 year old, along with three other friends wants to take a trip to Europe in mid June 2013 for two months. They don't mind where they fly into, however, they want to depart for Australia from Greece. They have no interest in stopping over in Asia.

Being 18 year olds cost of the airfares is a big issue for them, however, I stongly believe their return flight should have some ability to be changed at short notice.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[DAC1]

Hope members can provide some guidance on the following scenario:

My 18 year old, along with three other friends wants to take a trip to Europe in mid June 2013 for two months. They don't mind where they fly into, however, they want to depart for Australia from Greece. They have no interest in stopping over in Asia.

Being 18 year olds cost of the airfares is a big issue for them, however, I stongly believe their return flight should have some ability to be changed at short notice.

Any help would be much appreciated.

The only issue will be cost. Obviously they are young but go get a fare that can be changed on relatively short notice they will have to pay more. Like on qantas a Super Saver or Flexi Saver fare will allow some flexibility however these are a bit more expensive than sale and red e-deals. All they usually have to pay in a flexible fare is the fare difference (bear in mind though that fares go up substantially close to departure and this can make the fare difference quite large).

Its difficult to get airfare and flight flexibility on a budget, but if its an extremely important factor it's worth paying the extra. It might be far more cost effective if they just plan to stay a little longer and make a firm date that they want to come home, giving them the option of a cheaper fare and therefore more money to spend in Europe. Unfortunately airfares in Europe over summer aren't cheap.

 

[Isochronous]

Would recommend CX - even the cheapest economy airfares allow free date/time changes subject to availability

 

[mella2007]

I second CX excellent airline...however depending on pricing may not be suitable. Etihad have good pricing from Athens, and only a small change fee for Economy flights (3 of their economy fare classes are roughly 120 euro, the flexible is free change), their Economy class is also quite comfortable.