‘A month’s wages’: Soaring air fares leave Australians spending Christmas apart or out of pocket

Jonathan Brown got to see the joy on his nieces and nephews' faces as they tore open their presents. The potato salad and ham were on the table. So were the Christmas crackers and hats.

It was a typical family Christmas just like any other year - except that it took place on 27 November.

Brown's mother suggested breaking with tradition so the family that lives interstate could afford the flights to Adelaide.

The distances between Australia's cities have not grown, but the air fares to reach them this Christmas have, leaving many with a choice of either spending the holidays alone or out of pocket.

"For my brother, trying to get from WA to South Australia was looking like thousands of dollars just for him and his sons. We're talking what we're used to [for] international airline prices," Brown says.

For himself, he says: "Sydney to Adelaide was looking hundreds of dollars more than it ever has been trying to get back for Christmas."

When Christmas night proper comes, Brown says he's trying to bring together everyone he knows who also can't be with their family for a "vagabond outcast Christmas".

Jennifer Cooper, the owner of Queanbeyan City Travel and Cruise, says air fares this year are "outrageous".

"People are not travelling for Christmas. They can't afford it."

"Where once upon a time, you could fly to Europe for the price of that air fare, now you're flat out trying to get across the country," Cooper says.

Skyrocketing fares to Europe and other international destinations have also kept families from reuniting for the holiday season.

Niall Harden moved to Australia from Belfast in 2014, just before his sister's son was born. He's only met his nephew once, the last time he went back for a family wedding in 2016.

Harden says as soon as the borders opened after the pandemic he thought about travelling again. "I'd really hoped that we would get home to see our family this Christmas."

But when the war started in Ukraine, "we just watched the flights from Hobart to the UK get more and more out of control". Fares doubled from less than $2,000 to closer to $4,000.

"We can't afford that, that's like a month's wages each," he says. "This Christmas was the dream, but it's on hold for at least a year."

More Australians whose families are across state borders are turning to interstate train travel as a cheaper alternative to flying.

Bridget Hassed will be getting into Brisbane at 3am, after 14 hours on a train from Sydney, to be with her family for Christmas.

Having started a new job only two months ago, she said she wasn't in a position to start looking for flights until early December, by which time they were $600. She considered using Afterpay, but didn't want the cost to become "that thing that just ruins your week" and found a hire car would be just as expensive as a flight.

With Hassed's rent having gone up $50 a week recently and everything being "so expensive right now," the train became the most viable option despite losing a day each way.

For Peyton Hawkins, travelling home to Perth from Sydney via train or car wasn't an option as it would take well over a week.

"As a young female, it's pretty daunting to consider travelling alone in the middle of the desert for that long," Hawkins said. However, the cost of the flight home was more than she anticipated, with the cheapest ticket she could secure costing $1,000 on the redeye at midnight.

"I feel like it's going to affect how much I can spend on Christmas presents and the family activities we do back in Perth, because I just don't have extra in my budget because of how much the flights cost."

Cooper has other clients like the Browns who had decided to celebrate Christmas in November with their family because they couldn't afford the December air fares.

With the costs of power, food and housing all going up, she says people have been forced to make difficult choices.

"Do I forgo a mortgage or do I go without paying my electricity or do I walk to work for the next month so I can pay for an air fare?"

She says for many "it's got to be Christmas" because they haven't seen their family for so long due to the pandemic border closures.

Cooper is concerned the situation could land some in debt.

"And what you want to do, your heart tells you, 'I'll hang the expense, I'll put it on the credit card and I'll just go and visit my family for Christmas.' And then bang, what happens after that?"

"People will resort to doing what they think is right and best for the family, but then think about how many sad families there'll be on Christmas Day."