Hello,

Due to another (sigh) death in the family I need to get my wife from Pittsburgh to El Paso, pronto. I'm USAirways Chairman's Preferred (USAirways doesnt fly there) and American Platinum (American does, but I don't have enough miles). My wife is USAirways' Gold Preferred. She would like to leave tomorrow (Fri) or Sat, and return on Tuesday.

It would be nice to be able to use my half million US miles for the AA trip but that requires at least 3 days advance notice so that's out. I haven't called around for bereavement fares yet (do you have to call each airline directly?) as I know that's not going to be cheap since the Y fare is $1500 or so.

So far I've constructed this iterinary: use the esaver PIT-PHX R/T for $270, and then add a Southwest PHX-ELP R/T inside for $200. Total of under $500. Not bad, but my wife doesn't like nesting the trips. Anyone got any ideas to do better?

I'm just starting my search now so I still have to go through all the various search engines and a few travel agencies I know. Any tips are appreciated either posted here or to [email protected]