Finding flights to your volunteer destination
If you are lucky a few volunteer organisations will pay for the cost of your flight as part of your commitment to volunteering with them for a specified length of time, however, most organisations will require that you make your own flight arrangements. Given that many volunteer locations are in the remoter corners of the world these flights can turn out to be rather long and expensive and so it should be important to you to spend a little time trying to find both a combination of the best routing and best price for the flight where you want to go. You may be considering incorporating your volunteer experience as part of a wider travel plan, in which case you may be advised to speak to specialist flight and travel suppliers to get the best deal.
Searching for Flights and Flight Comparison Sites
As we have already mentioned in parts of our guide you should certainly use some flight price comparison sites like skyscanner, or you could use the flight comparison tools we have listed below, which search multiple travel sites, in order to get an idea of which airlines fly to your volunteer destination and which seem to offer the best prices. There are two further points you should also consider that may affect your decision which airline to use. Firstly, the length of the journey. Some airlines may appear cheaper but the journey could take a lot longer because you have to change planes at various points along the way. Some airlines also have maintenance and fuel stops so do check before booking your flight, as these too can lengthy, and will affect your flying time to wherever you are going. Secondly you should check visa requirements if you are transiting countries in order to get to your destination. You may not need a visa but you should always check to avoid any unwanted problems.
Find out which airlines fly to your destination using the useful skyscanner search below and get an idea of flight prices.
This is an alternative flight search engine.
When to buy your flights
Whatever you do, finding and buying your flight should be one of the first things you do, because generally (but not always) flights become more expensive the nearer it comes to your departure date so ideally you should be getting this out the way as soon as you are able. When searching for different flights you may need to know airport codes. All airports have a three letter code by which they can be identified so for example, London's Heathrow airport is LHR. When searching for flights on the internet it can be very handy to have these available. We have listed some of the main airport codes below relevant to volunteering abroad which hopefully may be of help to you.
Some Airport Codes
more codes coming soon
United Kingdom
- Liverpool - John Lennon = LPL
- London - Heathrow = LHR
- London - Gatwick = LGW
- London - Stansted = STN
- London - Luton = LTN
- Manchester = MAN
Europe
- Austria - Vienna - Schwechat International = VIE
- Belgium - Brussels = BRU
- France - Paris - Charles De Gaule = CDG
- Germany - Berlin - Berlin Tegel/Otto Lilienthal Airport = TXL
- Germany - Dusseldorf - Dusseldorf International = DUS
- Germany - Frankfurt - Frankfurt International = FRA
- Germany - Munich - Munich International = MUC
- Italy - Milan Malpensa = MXP
- Italy - Rome Fumicino = FCO
- Netherlands - Amsterdam = AMS
- Spain - Barcelona = BC
- Spain - Madrid = MAD
Africa
- Botswana - Gaborone - Sir Seretse Khama Intl = GBE
- Cameroon - Douala - Douala International = DLA
- Cameroon - Yaounde - Nsimalen International = NSI
- Democratic Republic of the Congo - Kinshasa - N´Djili International = FIH
- Gambia - Banjul - Banjul International = BJL
- Ghana - Accra - Kotoka International = ACC
Asia
- Bangladesh - Dhaka - Zia International = DAC
- Cambodia - Phnom Penh - Phnom Penh International = PNH
- China - Beijing - Beijing Capital International = PEK
- China - Chongqing - Chongqing Jiangbei International = CKG
- China - Shanghai - Pu Dong International = PVG
- China - Shanghai - Shanghai Hong Qiao International = SHA
Central and South America
- Belize - Philip Goldson International Airport = BZE
- Bolivia - Santa Cruz - Viru Viru International = VVI
- Bolivia - La Paz - El Alto = LPB
- Brazil - Brasilia - Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek International = BSB
- Brazil - Rio De Janeiro - Galeão–antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport = GIG
- Brazil - Sao Paulo - Aeroporto Internacional Guarulhos = GRU
- Colombia - Bogota - Aeropuerto Internacional El Dorado = BOG
- Colombia - Medellin - Enrique Olaya Herrera International = EOH
- Costa Rica - San José/Alajuela - Juan Santamaria Airport = SJO
- Costa Rica - San José - Tobias Bolaños International = SYQ
- Ecuador - Quito - Mariscal Sucre Airport = UIO
- Ecuador - Guayaquil - Jose Joaquin de Olmedo International = GYE
- Guatemela - - Guatemela City - Guatemala City La Aurora International = GUA
North America
USA
- Chicago - O'Hare International = ORD
- Dallas - Fort Worth International = DFW
- Los Angeles - International = LAX
- Miami International = MIA
- Newark - Liberty International = EWR
- New York - John F Kennedy = JFK
- Philadelphia - International = PHL
- San Francisco - International = SFO
- San Diego - International = SAN
- Seattle - Tacoma International = SEA
Canada
- Montreal - Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport = YUL
- Ottawa - Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International = YOW
- Toronto - Toronto Lester B Pearson International = YYZ
- Vancouver - Vancouver International = YVR
Australia and New Zealand
Australia
- Adelaide International Airport = ADL
- Brisbane International = BNE
- Canberra International = CBR
- Darwin International = DRW
- Perth International = PER
- Sydney - Kingsford Smith = SYD
If you have any comments regarding this volunteer guide on searching for flights to your destination, please give us some feedback here. You may have some more website ideas and resources for inclusion on this page or possible amendments, which we are always grateful to receive. Thanks!