A member must give the Overseas Administration Team and Travel Services as much time as possible when requesting reunion travel. This is to allow adequate time to make the travel bookings and to obtain the best fare possible.

Example 1: A member has a dependant who is under 18 years old, is attending primary or secondary education full-time with education assistance in Australia, and has all people with parental responsibility at the posting location. The member may be granted more than one reunion visit a year, to allow the child to spend school holidays with their parents.

If a child attends a school with a four-term school year, a fourth reunion visit may be granted.

Example 2: A member might have only one benefit a year for a dependant when there is no reason for additional reunion visits. This might occur with adult dependants who have completed their education, or when a parent remains in Australia and is available to provide emotional support, guidance and counselling.

Example: A member's 12 year old dependant is approved a reunion visit to Seattle. The child is booked on an international flight from Sydney to Los Angeles and a domestic flight from Los Angeles to Seattle.

The child cannot transfer safely between the two flights because the international (United) and domestic (Skywest) airlines do not provide an unaccompanied minor service for transfers between different airlines.

The member's adult child lives at the posting location and escorts the child from Los Angeles to Seattle. The member is eligible for allowable travel costs for their adult child to travel return between Seattle and Los Angeles. They are also eligible for the escort to make the same journey when the child returns home.

Note for Item 2a: The escort makes sure the child boards safely on the flight back home.

Example: A member's 17 year old dependant is approved a reunion visit to Marshall Islands. Flights to Marshall Islands are only available from Hawaii and only depart three times a week. This means an overnight stay in Hawaii is unavoidable. USA law does not permit a child under 18 to stay in accommodation without an adult.

The member is eligible for allowable travel costs to travel return from Marshall Islands to Hawaii. The member is also eligible for reasonable accommodation costs in Hawaii.

Example: A member is posted to Cherbourg, France and has two children who are dependants. One child has remained in Australia and attends school. The other child accompanied the member to Cherbourg, but attends boarding school at St John's College, England. The member may be eligible for a reverse overseas reunion to visit the child in Australia, but will not be eligible for reverse overseas reunion to visit the child in England.

This visit to the dependant is sometimes called 'reverse reunion' travel.

Example: A member or partner travels on a reverse overseas reunion visit to Sydney and reunites with their two children. This reduces the family's reunion benefit by one visit for each child.

Example: The member or partner travels from Los Angeles to Sydney for a reverse overseas reunion visit to two children. The allowable travel cost for the return trip by that person would have been AUD 3,600. This amount is the cost limit repayable for the reverse reunion travel. If the person gets a special deal AUD 2,000 ticket, then they only get reimbursed the cost of that ticket.

The approved form for reunion travel is one of the following.

1. PMKEyS.
2. AD701 – Application for Reunion or Reverse Reunion Travel for a Member or Employee on a Long-Term Posting Overseas.