Need to go to my grandfather's funeral this weekend. The US ticket office in London said I could get a berievement fare.

A few questions about this:
(1) Is it worth it? The fare difference was within $20.
(2) Will I get preferred miles if I fly under that fare class? (I think it was M)
(3) Is it upgradeable?

Thanks.
--Alex

I have flown bereavement fares twice on USAirways. I did get regular miles and my regular status miles on the fare, and it was not upgradeable. My flights were domestic USA.

As per being worth it, in my case they weren't really -- and if it's only $20 difference, why bother? In one case, PIT-IAH it was $580 vs $800 and in another PIT-LGA it was $340 vs $520. In both cases, I decided to use miles since USAirways waived any expedite fees and put me on the next flight. At least in my case, past those 'first class around the world vacations' that's why I always keep 100k or so miles around...

Berevement fares are totally changeable without any fees. That would be the one advantage.

------------------

Just go to one of the "bucket shops" in Leicester Square, or in the back pages of "The SUN". Deals abound on Air India, Kuwait Airways (not bad), and even British Airways, when they think nobody's looking. Interestingly, I find lots of UK types onboard USAirways. Since it's pretty unlikely the locals even know the line exists, it smells suspicioulsy like seat dumping. If I'm in London, the last thing I would do, in your situation,is call an airline directly.

Speaking as a "UK type", US Airways flights are widely available at competitive prices through many of the online travel sites such as Expedia here in the UK. I'd never heard of them until they came up as the cheapest option on a flight search on lastminute.com for a LGW-MCO trip at New Year a couple of years ago. It was a pleasant surprise to discover they offered such an excellent transatlantic product.

Been ploughing back and forth across the Atlantic with them ever since.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by UKFlyerWithUS:
Speaking as a "UK type", US Airways flights are widely available at competitive prices through many of the online travel sites such as Expedia here in the UK. </font>

So.. are you saying by booking the flight on usair.com I was a fool?
--Alex

Note to UKFLYER. Reference to "UK type" was not a pejorative. Been married to one for over 30 years. Case in point, however. A few years ago an English friend and I were walking down Lower Regent Street, just off Picadilly. As we passed the tiny office which TWA still had, he remarked to me about what a small place it was for such a big airline. By that time, they were down to one flight, a St. Louis to Gatwick trip. He had no idea they had ceased to be a major player. Likewise, nobody on that island has a clue who USAirways is. If their patronage is increasing, its got to be aggressive pricing that's doing it.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ayb1:
So.. are you saying by booking the flight on usair.com I was a fool?
--Alex</font>

Not at all, I was just highlighting the wide availability of US flights online. In my experience the best puchasing option tends to vary with each flight. I've just booked a flight direct through usair.com myself a few days ago, a good option at the moment due to the favourable £/$ exchange rate.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by deelmakur:
Reference to "UK type" was not a pejorative.</font>

Don't worry, it wasn't taken as one. And I agree, the average man in the street here probably never has heard of US Airways.

[This message has been edited by UKFlyerWithUS (edited November 12, 2003).]

I live in Los Angeles, and the average person on the street hasn't heard of US Airways, either. Some people I know have only flown on US because Priceline put them there. They would never even think to go onto usairways.com.