Grievance fares on Airlines

Just wondering how one goes about getting a "grievance fare" to return home for a family funeral.  No one has passed away yet, but my grandma isn't doing well and I just want to be ready to go home as soon as possible if something happens.

Looking on American's website, a flight from London to Boston later this week is only £350, which I think is really cheap, but does anyone have experience if they give any sort of discount on top of that for travel under the circumstances.  I had always planned on using air miles for this kind of situation, but they seem to be ading on some premium charges for using air miles.  An extra 20,000 miles, plus an additional $50 fee.  Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I flew from VA to VT on a grievance fare after my grandmother passed.  I contacted the airline and they wanted some basic information that they could verify.  They needed my grandma's name, date of death, the funeral home name, person of contact and phone number at the funeral home.  I was able to fly out the next day.  I would assume most airlines need similar info.

BTW, I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother 

I flew on a grievance fare from OR to CA a couple of years ago. When I called around, a lot of the airlines weren't offering them anymore. I did find one eventually, it was 50% off whatever the current fares were and I needed to supply the airline a copy of the death certificate on the return flight home.

Sorry to hear about your grandmother.

I'm very sorry to hear about your Grandmother.  (sending you a hug)

I went home in April after my husband's younger brother passed away unexpectedly. We found out Saturday night and wanted to get home as fast as possible to be with family. We called American Airlines to check out the grievance fair and they wanted £1300.00 per ticket to fly to Dallas the next morning!  They ended up allowing me to use my frequent flyer miles to purchase tickets. When I got to the airport I had to pay £109.50 per ticket which was quite a bit more than they normally charge to use miles, but it was much better than £2600.00.

A couple of weeks later I noticed that they took out 40,000 more than it would normally cost to fly to Dallas. Since they hadn't mentioned it to me before, I called them to ask about it and they refunded the miles back to my account.

Thanks all for the input and well wishes. 

Oh sorry Karin  :\\\'(

Bereavement fares are usually discounted full fare tickets which means if you're looking for a cheap flight you would probably get a better deal just booking a straight super saver fare if possible. Bereavement fares are expensive but flexible meaning you can pretty much travel and change the dates whenever you want without penalty. Also with bereavement fares you must provide funeral home information as the ticket agent will call to verify. I know it sounds horrible and harsh and I have had to call funeral homes many times but you wouldn't believe the people who try to get bereavement fares when they aren't bereaved at all.   

Bereavement fares are usually discounted full fare tickets which means if you're looking for a cheap flight you would probably get a better deal just booking a straight super saver fare if possible.

My mother's grandmother passed away a few years back and I tried to book a bereavement fare for her to get back to Scotland on short notice.  Ended up being much cheaper to buy a regular ticket from a consolidator (like Orbitz, cheaptickets, etc.) than to buy a bereavement fare from any of the airlines.  But as Pebbles said, the regular ticket is quite restricted, so it depends on how much flexibility you need.

I knew I wasn't calling it the right thing....Bereavement sounds much nicer.

I totally understand the funeral home thing and have no issue with that.  I can totally see people abusing the system if checks weren't in place.

I tried to get a bereavement fare when my father passed away a few years ago - and it was nearly double what was published online....some airlines will try to profit from your last minute *have to get home* needs.

So call around or try to book online - I know that's the last thing you want to do at a time like that - but some airlines are not very sympathetic. 

if the need arises, give virgin a call.  we have used them 2ce for funerals, but not in the last 3 years. they do discounted courtesy fares which basically means they will let you fly immediately for the cheapest rate that they ever sold that flight. they do require a dr note or death certificate or your card will be charged full walk-up fare. good luck.

some airlines will try to profit from your last minute *have to get home* needs.

I don't know if they are really trying to profit from it...  They all have set policies which dictate what is allowed and what isn't.  The policies are very antiquated in a lot of cases, before the large discounters came around, but I am sure the airlines are not consciously trying to take advantage of people who have just encountered a loss.  And as a lot of people have pointed out, they are really only good if you are trying to fly at the last minute and the only thing available to you is a full fare ticket, which generally is changeable and refundable, unlike anything you purchase from the web.  If you have time to plan, even as little as 7 days in advance, you can save a ton of money but you won't have a flexible ticket.

I am sure for every person who ends up getting a bereavement fair on an oversold flight, there is someone who gets bumped off that feels that the person had no right to do it.  So you just can't win.

Just wondering how one goes about getting a "grievance fare" to return home for a family funeral.  No one has passed away yet, but my grandma isn't doing well and I just want to be ready to go home as soon as possible if something happens.

Looking on American's website, a flight from London to Boston later this week is only £350, which I think is really cheap, but does anyone have experience if they give any sort of discount on top of that for travel under the circumstances.  I had always planned on using air miles for this kind of situation, but they seem to be ading on some premium charges for using air miles.  An extra 20,000 miles, plus an additional $50 fee.  Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Karin,

My grandmother died in February.  I flew over because she was ill and then the day I flew back here she died. Both times I got my ticket really cheap.  I think I paid like £270 for the first flight and the second flight I paid £224 both through Virgin and both via their website the first flight I got in about 6 days notice and the second flight I got literally within a days notice.    First I did a search on the exact days I had wanted and it came back with a very very expensive flight.  But then when I changed it to flexible they gave me near enough the same flights (I think I had to stay a day longer).

I'm sorry to hear about your Grandma.

Maureen