I have been looking on UA for fares and it seems the best they can offer is $25 off for deaths, illnesses etc. This seems much worse than it used to be. Does anyone have any insight on this?
No, not good at all when they sell tickets on a RT pretty much anywhere in the continental US for $250-$300 if you buy with enough advance purchase time.
You may say "Well that's with advanced purchase..." Well sorry, I can't schedule when a loved one is going to pass away. I think it's a really awful penny pinching policy.
Priceline it. Just more proof the airlines HAVE seats they're willing to sell cheap, but god forbid they do so for someone who has a very valid reason for booking last minute.
Programs: CO Platinum or Gold since the dark days, now MM
Posts: 194
Not reasonable. The chances are that a bereavement fare will be an expensive last-minute ticket. 5% off that is not much. I guess that is how much "compassion" UA has an airline. Of course, I remember post 9/11, CO and UA lining up for tax payer dollars because they were in such bad shape. The Feds should have been equally compassionate.
It used to be that these booked in Q, and they were 25% of the Y fare, with the full set of taxes and surcharges. Often that meant that an S or a T was cheaper. However, the bereavement fare was changeable for a fairly low amount: I think it was $25 or $50.
So, as an example, suppose I had to go from ORD to ATL tomorrow, and return a week later. Cheapest fare is a U/V at $504. Full Y is $2056+22, so the "old" United would have charged $536 (and the non-bereavement fare would have been cheaper) and the "new" United $479.
My experience is that this is one of the best uses of miles there is.
What are you all talking about with "compassion"? You're talking about receiving a discount on a business service by a corporation. There's no entitlement to air travel, and you shouldn't expect "compassion", nor should you show them any. Go where the fares are cheapest -- try priceline as suggested above, or use miles. This is business -- don't expect anything unless it benefits them, don't give anything unless it benefits you.
It's a much less generous policy than AA has. I had to get an SFO-BOS bereavement ticket in October. At the time, last-minute fares on both airlines were $1100 for the roundtrip. UA offered me the standard 5% off. AA offered me a $700 fare.
Of course, either way was ridiculously expensive, but UA happened to still have a few mileage saver tickets, so I swallowed the $50 let's-shaft-2Ps fee (which they wouldn't waive for a bereavement) and flew on miles.
What are you all talking about with "compassion"? You're talking about receiving a discount on a business service by a corporation. There's no entitlement to air travel, and you shouldn't expect "compassion", nor should you show them any. Go where the fares are cheapest -- try priceline as suggested above, or use miles. This is business -- don't expect anything unless it benefits them, don't give anything unless it benefits you.
For some people the price of travel would prevent them from attending a funeral. This is unfortunate but it's not the airline's fault.
I agree, it's not the airline's fault. It would be generous of them to offer more of a discount but not mandatory to give anyone a discount at all. To get indignant about it not being more puzzles me. Once you land, does your taxi driver give you a discount if you say you are there for a funeral? Your hotel? What other discounts do you expect to come your way?
The car service which takes you to/from the airport, hotel at which you stay, restaurants at which you eat and car rental company at the destination, don't generally offer bereavement rates, why should air carriers?
So, why is it unreasonable that any discount is offered?
None of this is to suggest that it isn't a bad thing that one can't afford to travel to a close relative's funeral, but there are many much harsher realities in life.
The one time I really needed help from the 'bereavement' department was to urgently get a seat on an oversold flight on Christmas Eve. I was grateful that they accommodated me on that flight within a couple of hours. Must have had to compensate someone else for denied boarding. I did pay full boat, though. There was never any expectation or offer of a discount.
