Do you pay Aupairs Return airfare?

[Totallyfloaty35]

Have booked summer aupair,but she wants me to pay her airfare or at least her Return fare.I refused as she will only be working for me for 7weeks.She says its normal for families to pay airfare but i have never done it.I pay approx £30 towards travel costs when they arrive and pay them a bonus/get them a present when they leave, if we have all got on that is.
But now its got me wondering,am i a terrible host mother,do most people pay fares?

I would pay a return - why should she be out of pocket ?

My host family never paid any travel costs for any of their AP's or for me, why should they? I'm the one who wants to come for the job, I could turn it down if I didn't want to pay for it myself and find a family who would pay!

However, if she told you before you gave her the job that she wanted her flights paid for then really you should, as she did give you previous warning, however if she didn't bother telling you then why should you unless you offered it?

Actually, I shall eat my words on that, as if she is travelling a great distance and has a high far then it is only fair to contribute, but not fully pay still. Like if I were hired by an Aussie family I'd ask for a contribution to the cost as an AP however I would offer to pay them back over my time working for them if they'd prefer it that way, as the initial cost is the difficult bit.

If I got a nannying job I would expect the family to pay for the returns, as it's their choice to hire somebody from another country with qualifications, whilst an AP can get a job easily anywhere she wants to go as most families prefer APs to nannies due to the price...

I offered her the position,then she asked.My previous aupairs have never asked,even the OZ one,she told me she chose to come to UK so didnt expect someone else to pay.
Any way have looked at her flight costs and will up my payment towards travel a bit and it covers return flight anyway.I usually give a little present(hair do,handbag etc) when they leave and if really nice i give extra weeks money,but must admit this usually to girls staying 4months or more.

I'm with Pixinanny - nannies do, APs don't. She want to come to the UK, she pays to get here. An advance, to be paid back in installments, is appropriate but booked in advance you can get to/from most places in Europe pretty cheaply.

I don't pay their air fares, but I do give them a goodbye bonus (in euros so they don't need to convert). Our AP has just booked her return flight - was £2.50 plus taxes (£12.50 total I think)
The aupair world website clearly states that au pairs, not host families, should pay the air fare.

Millarkie: What company did she go with to get it that cheaply? And how far in advance has she booked it? I know you can get them cheaply (my bf's sister got to Prague for £5 at christmas) but I don't know how to do that with air fares, only train fares!
I want to visit my bf (he's in France atm) but don't want to pay £50 for a ticket when I could pay a fiver lol

& Yes, basically reiterating: APs choose where they want to go so should be responsible for air fares! I spoke to MB about this and I knew that they'd offered to help pay towards their last APs luggage but she said that it was because they fired her so therefore they felt responsible, but otherwise they wouldn't pay unless they liked the girl lol

I'm planning on trying to find instructing work in Aus and NZ and I most definately wouldn't expect the company to pay for me to get there!

If you do decide to pay for her air fare (which I don't think you should do btw) do not forward the money to her to pay for the fare, only give it to her when she is actually here. Greataupair and other sites are full of stories of families who sent money to aupairs for travel, the aupair never turned up and they were left with no help and out-of-pocket!

PN - if you're flying to where I think you are, city beginning with N, then it's only Ryanair that fly there. NJ me if you want more details on how to get to that area of the world for cheap though!

Pixi - she flies with Ryanair, and she booked last week for a flight the end of June - so not way in advance. We were looking at flight prices (because we would prefer her to leave a couple of days earlier, and they still had flights at £10 plus tax for the end of June...but that is to Germany. My mum gets bargain flights (15p) to Dublin to visit my brother but always books months and months ahead.

No they pay their own airfare here and back. If she asks BEFORE you have offered the job then fair enough that's up to you to decide but I would always say no.

No - as everybody else has said quite clear that APs pay their own fares (under the old rules I think it was a visa requirement that they had to have sufficient funds to cover return airfare).

Do pay an end of contract bonus - partly contracted "please stay to end of contract" bonus and partly genuine thank you of up to a weeks salary depending on how good they have been - and like Millarkie I try and pay all the final weeks money (salary and bonus) in Euros.

nope... that was always a condition of being an AP under the old rules. They had to have sufficient funds for travel to the UK.
I paid return flights, but that was at the end of at least 6 months not 7 weeks.

I don't pay any airfare, even return. None of my aupairs (Western Europe) have asked.

Thanks Ladies,my girls always have to get the train/bus to me then i pick them up,so i always give money to cover costs of this.I have never paid fares(except when my lovely french aupair came rushing back to look after me when i was preggers an fell down stairs)i certainly would not send them money in advance
If her fare is a fiver i can stretch to that.Had not thought of paying last wage/bonus in euros,thats a good idea actually thanks.
And if anyone has aupairs in the Brighton area who would like to make friends please cat me as got a Finnish girl turning up in 10days(not the one who asked for her fare,she comes in July!)

frannikin: I have no idea where I'm flying too! I haven't been told yet, though I think it's N too?

& thanks Millarkie I'll try organise my holiday time asap then (or should I say, give MB a kick up the bum to get her dates sorted at some point before the week leading to the holiday lol)

"Thanks Ladies" - hem hem

It is not normal practice to pay their airfares to the UK for the simple reason that they may fly in at your expense, but not turn up to work for you. So I would strongly advise against doing this. Plus it shows a lack of commitment on their part IMO.

We give a bonus of about 60-80 euros at the end if all has gone well, that they can use for a return flight if they want, or something else (sometimes the flights cost practically nothing). Three times I have not given a bonus when the placement failed to work out because the au pair was bone idle or in one case dishonest.

We do pick them up from the airport on arrival though, and the kids present her with a bunch of flowers. When leaving we try to take them to the airport with all their stuff, but sometimes they don't need us to because they are going with a friend or it's while we are at work.

oops so sorry ladies and gents i thankyou