Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan - Standby/Medical emergency question

I bought to RT tickets from PDX to ONT on Alaska/Horizon for about $250 each.
My elderly mother fell and broke a bone and my wife had to fly down immediately (change fee + fare addition about $250)
Now I'm trying to bring her back with me on the date I am scheduled to return and don't want to make it an $800 RT fare for her.

Can she fly standby three days before her scheduled flight? Is there any probision for family medical emergencies?

If you have documentation of the emergency and find a nice CSA or GA they might allow it. Otherwise its your word against their policy. As stated in a recent thread without proof it will be hard to do. There are too many scammers making up all types of excuses everyday to get around rules. If you go with written proof you have a way better chance than just going in there and pleading a verbal case. Just my 2 cents. This is usually trying to get to the emergency though. Im not sure in regards to coming back home as that doesnt really constitute an emergency

If you have documentation of the emergency and find a nice CSA or GA they might allow it. Otherwise its your word against their policy. As stated in a recent thread without proof it will be hard to do. There are too many scammers making up all types of excuses everyday to get around rules. If you go with written proof you have a way better chance than just going in there and pleading a verbal case. Just my 2 cents. This is usually trying to get to the emergency though. Im not sure in regards to coming back home as that doesnt really constitute an emergency

Maybe since she paid the fee and add collect to get there earlier than planned with solid documentation they might be willing to give her some leeway on the return? Of course it will depend on the CSA you speak to. Remember to go very early for the flight you want to "stand-by" for and you may want to pick a non-peak travel day such as Tuesday (tomorrow) or Wednesday. If you can arrive when the agent isn't super busy and doesn't feel rushed to get you on a flight you might fare somewhat better. Of course, YMMV.

If you have documentation of the emergency and find a nice CSA or GA they might allow it. Otherwise its your word against their policy. As stated in a recent thread without proof it will be hard to do. There are too many scammers making up all types of excuses everyday to get around rules. If you go with written proof you have a way better chance than just going in there and pleading a verbal case. Just my 2 cents. This is usually trying to get to the emergency though. Im not sure in regards to coming back home as that doesnt really constitute an emergency

I would agree with this... getting there was the most important part... since its not an 'emergency' to get back... doubt there is much one can do.

I gave up and paid my THIRD $250 for the air fare back......

This is where AS has fallen short in my opinion. My dad had a heart attack onboard an airplane earlier this year (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008710742_webheartattack05m.html) and AS gave no remorse or discount but rather charged 3 people full Y fares plus fees because I called instead of ordering online.

Gave me a real bad taste about AS/QX for a few months.

This is where AS has fallen short in my opinion. My dad had a heart attack onboard an airplane earlier this year (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008710742_webheartattack05m.html) and AS gave no remorse or discount but rather charged 3 people full Y fares plus fees because I called instead of ordering online.

Gave me a real bad taste about AS/QX for a few months.
Well I'll tell you what, AS has a lot more remorse than somebody like DL/NW(hard to tell what they are called today, they dont even have a clue day to day whats going on anymore...ok OT) would have for such situations.

This is where AS has fallen short in my opinion. My dad had a heart attack onboard an airplane earlier this year (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008710742_webheartattack05m.html) and AS gave no remorse or discount but rather charged 3 people full Y fares plus fees because I called instead of ordering online.

Gave me a real bad taste about AS/QX for a few months.

As ANC stated earlier...it's becoming harder and harder to utilize bereavement and "family emergency" fares due to scammers. There have been numerous threads here on FT about the difficulty to obtain these fares.

Yes, it sucks. But everyone needs to cover their a$$...even if it makes the customer unhappy.

Well I'll tell you what, AS has a lot more remorse than somebody like DL/NW(hard to tell what they are called today, they dont even have a clue day to day whats going on anymore...ok OT) would have for such situations.

Disagree actually. My dad was on a Delta flight when it happened. They made an emergency landing over Montana and out of all the hospitals landed in Great Falls, the only hospital that is able to perform an angioplasty in a 200 mile radius.

Not only that but they offered to pay for our expenses but we declined as they had already done so much.

Then my grandma in July started getting sick and was on her death bed (but hadn't passed away) and when we explained our story to NWA about my grams they offered a ticket at $699 round trip, peak season from SEA to AMS when they were going for $3500 round trip on their website.

Look I love AS but DL/NW (out of all the airlines you picked the one I have had a fantastic experience with when a medical emergency comes up) has pulled through for my family and I on multiple occasions this year.

Not only that but they offered to pay for our expenses but we declined as they had already done so much.


Okay...wait a minute...DL/NW offered to pay your expenses, and you declined...and you're complaining that AS/QX didn't have any remorse or sympathy for your situation????

I may not be the brightest crayon in the box, but if someone is offering to pay for my expenses (or reimburse me) to go visit an ill loved one, I have no room to complain if I don't take them up on it and utilize another airlines services to the location of my loved one.

I think your experiences are far out of the norm and in fact hard to believe.

Both my grandparents passed away in the past 2 years (this july and the spring well before that) and I got jack sh!t from any airline in the sense of actual help - bereavement fares were half of full fare economy which in one case was still more than the fares I was able to get on kayak... and not even an offer of the availability of bereavement in the other case. But I don't blame the airlines for trying to turn a profit.

That you got a fare for 25% of market rate sounds unlikely, the offer to have all expenses paid sounds unlikely, and your whining offends me relative to my experiences... I was going to an actual funeral with a hard date and got nothing. You were going to a plausible last minute situation that could have turned around and got the world. My level of sympathy is low here.

Okay...wait a minute...DL/NW offered to pay your expenses, and you declined...and you're complaining that AS/QX didn't have any remorse or sympathy for your situation????

I may not be the brightest crayon in the box, but if someone is offering to pay for my expenses (or reimburse me) to go visit an ill loved one, I have no room to complain if I don't take them up on it and utilize another airlines services to the location of my loved one.

The situation was simple. We got charged full fares to go to Great Falls with no remorse and in fact were charged fees because we called as we weren't near a reliable internet connection (try booking 3 tickets through your web enabled phone in the car while driving when bluetooth head sets make it much safer and quicker).

DL did end up offering but they did do enough and on top of that there was an off chance that my dad's work would have paid for it... which in the end they did. A detail we didn't know when this was happening.

brarrr... it offends me that you consider what i have to say whining when I show a different view point from an airline (DL/NW) that very often gets blamed for things beyond their control.

I prefixed my entire conversation with that I am not angry at AS/QX, it was just a bad experience. Since then I have flown 30 or so legs with them without a hassle but it still feels like they didn't even try to do anything. That you don't believe me, that is up to but there is plenty of media coverage on the event and we, as a family, never ever harassed or slandered AS/QX during the process but we didn't praise them either.

I also want to apologize to the OP for taking over your thread, no idea I'd get this much resistance.