I'd offer any extra points I had available

No we've never thought of doing that, and none of our APs hinted at it either. No HF we know do that.

I feel like the ones that do buy the tix sound braggy.

If your budget allows, buy her the airfare. We had an AP from Argentina and both her tix twice.

For the 2 AP who extended, we gave them the program savings in cash. One of them used the money to go home. I would not just pay for a ticket home.

Why would you pay for her ticket home? Did she ask? Most aupairs come from countries where culturally people are way more straight forward. The odds of her dropping hints may not the highest.
I wouldn’t do it but it depends on what type of aupair she is and how the year has been going. We lent our aupair money to go home for Christmas and she chose to not return nor pay us back. At that point, whatever, but it was the fact it was lent as a Christmas present and not a “goodbye” present which made our lives difficult.

Just be careful she isn’t planning on staying home. If they break a match they have to pay for the flight home. Doing this avoids that cost.

I have a nanny who I pay a very good wage and I still paid for her flight home when she wanted to see a family member but flights were expensive. I would do it… if you can…

Anonymous wrote:Ours went back to visit her family too. We chipped in with the ticket (I believe we gave her $400) and called it a bonus / early xmas gift.

I have not heard of families doing this. You have no obligation - it’s her responsibility. And if you do, I’d definitely consider it with no strings attached. You might not even get a thank you.

Just a small comment on the no thank you point. That happened to us. Weird. Maybe they were shy or maybe they had no clue or the gesture.

Same as PP

We bought our AP a ticket home between years because she was extending. This was around Xmas time so to worked out. The coat of the ticket was about the savings with the agency for Extending. We gave her the difference for travel money.

We’ve helped purchase a ticket home for our AP’s who extend with us (I use my points to buy a one way flight and the AP pays for the one way back).

Nope, don't do it. Not your problem.

I agree with PP. You shouldn't feel any pressure to do it. We give our au pairs money for Christmas and their birthdays and if they want to save and use that for their ticket -- that's on them.

Ours went back to visit her family too. We chipped in with the ticket (I believe we gave her $400) and called it a bonus / early xmas gift.

I have not heard of families doing this. You have no obligation - it’s her responsibility. And if you do, I’d definitely consider it with no strings attached. You might not even get a thank you.

We have an au pair in her first year who’s about 5 months in. We’ve asked her several times when she plans to take her first vacation week but haven’t gotten a response. This week while we were eating out we brought it up again and she said how her family wants her to visit her home country but the ticket is too expensive. I’m assuming this is a hint for us to buy the ticket. Is this something HF should do? It’s over 1k.