For many Australians, holidays at the end of the year are an opportune time to connect with loved ones.
But for some living apart from their families, rising flight prices threatened to turn this Christmas into a lonely one.
Here’s how these Australians dealt with high prices to have a meaningful day — with or without being able to travel.
The rise of Friend-mas
Alisa Webb moved from Melbourne to Perth a year ago for work and a lifestyle change.
But she says living in a different state from her family meant needing to deal with the “exorbitant” cost of flying.
That, coupled with having to grapple with interest rate rises as a first home buyr, made it harder to justify paying for interstate travel.
“I just [had] a quiet Christmas here and will go back to see them at a time when it’s less busy,” Ms Webb says.
It may have been her first Christmas without her family by her side, but she wasn’t going to forego a celebration.
Instead, Ms Webb called on a friend to spend the festive season together by celebrating “Friend-mas”.
“We went to a Christmas Day charity yoga class,” she says.
“We made a couple of small, nice dishes and ate chocolate baubles.”
And with the help of technology, they were able to video-call their families and maintain that connection.
“I mean, it was obviously not the same, but it was nice to see their faces,” she says.
Caring neighbours
Like Ms Webb, Leonie Emery moved interstate for a lifestyle change.
She, her dog and two cats moved to Western Australia from Queensland four years ago.
The 60-year-old was previously on a disability pension due to a workplace injury that left her with a permanent disability.
“Unfortunately, after [my] marriage broke up, I ended up with absolutely nothing, no super, nothing but I’m trying to recoup that,” she says.
She bulk-buys pet food, orders pre-made meals from a small business to reduce food waste, and is looking to downsize her subscriptions, phone and internet plans to cope.
For years Ms Emery has been unable to spend the holidays with her adult children in Melbourne because of flight prices.
This year was no different, but having a neighbour gracious enough to extend an invite made her day.
“She lives right next door to me … and she took me to her family for Christmas.”
Despite being sad that she couldn’t see her children, she was determined to “make the most out of it” and enjoy the kind company she had.
“They were lovely, salt-of-the-earth people — I had a lovely time with them.”
Ms Emery is waiting for an airfare sale so she can see her children again.
“I’ll probably try and go for four or five days to catch up with them and to sit and have a meal with them.
“It would be lovely … I miss my kids.”
Interstate travel comes at a cost
For others, like Rhiahne May, being able to travel interstate to see loved ones was possible, but not easy.
Noticing the rising cost of domestic airfares, Ms May and her partner made sacrifices to afford the annual visit to see her parents.
“We hardly eat out because we also have to deal with upcoming mortgage costs, and we don’t drive around much because of the cost of petrol,” she says.
“We have to wait for a sale before we can book flights because the price of normal fares is outside of our budget.”
This meant booking a flight months in advance and having to compromise on travel dates.
“We didn’t actually want to travel on the days we booked … but they were the cheapest,” Ms May says.
In the end, the pair didn’t even get to travel on the day they’d booked.
They’d been due to fly from Brisbane to Launceston a week before Christmas.
But after first being told their flight Tasmania had been delayed, they were told their flight had been cancelled just as they prepared to board.
The airline put them on a flight a day later, but Ms May says the “traumatic” change of plans left her nearly $200 out of pocket with no certainty of compensation from the airline.
But for Ms May, it was more disappointing to have missed out on family time.
“My sister also [flew into] Tasmania and we already had a limited time to spend with her as she was only down here for a few days,” she said.
“That was a whole day lost.
“I would have liked to come down to Tasmania to see my parents more frequently, but the cost of flight really stopped me from being able to do that.”
International travel and cruises cheaper than domestic airfares
Airline data from The Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics shows domestic airfares have fallen close to pre-COVID levels after peaking in October last year.
But even as prices continue to recover, it’s likely they’ll remain high until about mid-2024.
Queensland-based travel consultant Rebecca Pennington says that, depending on where you’re coming from, it can be cheaper to travel internationally to nearby destinations such as New Zealand and Bali than it is to fly within Australia.
And planes might not be the cheapest option.
“It’s cheaper to cruise around Australia than it is to fly,” she says.
“They keep saying that we should travel in our own backyard to boost our economy first, but we still haven’t seen [airlines] dropping prices enough to be able to make that possible.”
Ms Pennington also believes more frequent flight cancellations across both international and domestic flights deter people from flying.
With increased airfares on top of the cost-of-living crisis, she says “it’s a bit of everything that makes people not want to fly unless they absolutely have to.”
‘Loved ones’ doesn’t just mean family
Ms Webb thinks celebrations such as Friend-mas will be here to stay.
While many people traditionally spend this time of year with just their family, Ms Webb says holidays are “really just about spending time with your loved ones”.
“And if you can’t get to the people you would normally spend it with, there are always other loved ones around [to] create new traditions [with] and that can be nice as well”.
Ms Emery agrees.
“Sometimes ‘family’ doesn’t always mean people we are related to,” she says.
“If we’re kind to each other and look after each other, it would make life so much easier.”