Bereavement Airfare?

Bereavement Airfare? (Full Version)

All Forums >> [Casual Banter] >> Off the Grid

Message

xxblushesxx -> Bereavement Airfare? (1/31/2012 8:13:27 AM)
Is it even still available any longer? We're expecting a death in the family, and HM will have to go out for the funeral. I'm trying to find a decent flight instead of making him drive. I'm going to check travelzoo and check back.

Zonie63 -> RE: Bereavement Airfare? (1/31/2012 8:29:26 AM)
Southwest doesn't offer bereavement fare, but some of the majors do, although they seem to take them on a case by case basis. http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,52994,00.html?&navSource=Qgo&linkTitle=qid663 http://www.aa.com/i18n/utility/bereavementFares.jsp http://www.delta.com/planning_reservations/special_travel_needs/bereavement/index.jsp A thread from this forum has more information.

kalikshama -> RE: Bereavement Airfare? (1/31/2012 8:30:56 AM)
I'm sorry about your loss. I imagine the policies differ between carriers. What's the relation? I imagine the deceased must be closely related.

xxblushesxx -> RE: Bereavement Airfare? (1/31/2012 8:45:35 AM)
Grandmother. They're saying she won't last a week. It's sad, but she's 95, has lost most of her mental faculties, and does not have the quality of life any person on earth should have.

DarkSteven -> RE: Bereavement Airfare? (1/31/2012 8:49:37 AM)
My father uses Orbitz to find the cheapest fare and then goes to the airline's website and gets the same flight cheaper than Orbitz. Hotwire used to be cheap but you get no say in what time of day you leave and arrive. My condolences to the two of you.

RexCorvus -> RE: Bereavement Airfare? (1/31/2012 9:01:41 AM)
I'm sorry for your (anticipated) loss. Last year when my wife's father died suddenly I had to arrange a flight very quickly (under 24 hours). I called a couple airlines and said "My father-in-law died this morning, and I need to get on a plane to <his home state> ASAP". They quoted me the bereavement rate right off, and I was able to fly relatively cheaply. The airline I ended up going with (Delta?) did need me to provide the name of the funeral home that was handling services - I don't think they actually checked up to make sure I wasn't scamming them, but just needed to fill it in on the computer screen (the lady I talked to was very nice about it). I would definitely advise calling a few different airlines - the price difference for me was something like $200 for basically the exact same trip. It's also possible you'd get a better deal via Orbitz or Travelocity or whatever even without any kind of bereavement discount - I was in a hurry and didn't have time to do a lot of comparison shopping (although something in the back of my mind says we actually did look on a couple sites before calling, just to make sure there wasn't a massive difference in price).

OsideGirl -> RE: Bereavement Airfare? (1/31/2012 9:02:08 AM)
Yes, bereavement fares do still exist. However, in my experience, the published fares usually work better. The bereavement fare is a discount off of the top three highest fares that don't require an advance purchase. But many of the airlines have no advance purchase cheap fares in most markets. Let me know if you'd like me to do some looking. I can point you to who has the lowest fares.

xxblushesxx -> RE: Bereavement Airfare? (1/31/2012 9:09:24 AM)
Thank you all, and Oside, I may contact you on the other side. (after I get back from running errands) I appreciate the nice thoughts and will send them on to HM. : )

LadyHibiscus -> RE: Bereavement Airfare? (1/31/2012 1:58:17 PM)
I'm so sorry about HM's grandmother. I hope she passes peacefully.

mummyman321 -> RE: Bereavement Airfare? (1/31/2012 2:18:15 PM)
I am sorry for your loss :( Here is Delta's site for Bereavement Fares: http://www.delta.com/planning_reservations/special_travel_needs/bereavement/index.jsp You need to call for the price. There are not published. Tickets must be purchased within 3 days of the death domestically. 7 days for international. Required Documentation The following information is required so that you can purchase a ticket using discounted Bereavement Fares: Deceased person’s name Passenger's relationship to the deceased Name and phone number of funeral home, hospital, or hospice Name of doctor (if applicable)

peppermint -> RE: Bereavement Airfare? (1/31/2012 3:03:14 PM)
When my late husband's mother was passing away we needed to get him an airplane ticket for the next day. We saw some ads in the travel section of the newspaper. They offered really low prices for tickets. So we called them and they were 1/3 the price of the airlines (no internet back then) They FedExed the tickets to us and the tickets arrived a couple hours before he had to leave for the airport. We were petrified until he was actually on the plane that the tickets would be no good. Not sure if those kinds of places are still in business or not. Might be worth checking on them.

OsideGirl -> RE: Bereavement Airfare? (1/31/2012 4:35:15 PM)
Most likely a consolidator ticket. There are still a few companies that do consolidator tickets domestically, but most have stopped. The airlines have reduced plane sizes and number of flights, so it made it really difficult to get the fare categories needed and most gave up.

TheHeretic -> RE: Bereavement Airfare? (1/31/2012 8:02:40 PM)
My advice would be to shop as widely as possible. I wound up doing better with a last minute Priceline flight than anyone was offering with a bereavement fare, though my return flight was at a crappy hour. That was buying the ticket the day before I left.

GreedyTop -> RE: Bereavement Airfare? (1/31/2012 10:29:21 PM)
hugs to CHrissie and HM

xxblushesxx -> RE: Bereavement Airfare? (2/14/2012 7:28:20 AM)
She passed late last night. I'm glad it wasn't on my birthday or valentine's day. The last time I checked I could find flights for around 300. Now they're running between 5 and 800. I wish I could go with him but with all of our pets and the little ones, it would be about impossible.

Page: [1]

Collarchat.com © 2025

Terms of Service

0.046875