Jenbel

A family member coming here found VS were more accommodating than BA - but that does depend on you being on a VS route.

Rickers

Team Leaders / Supervisors in BA Contact Centres do have the authority and the discretionary powers to waive Advanced Purchase restrictions on tickets, but AFAIK there is no set protocol to follow --- it is very much dependant upon getting somebody on the end of the line who is sympathetic to your predicament, and who is prepared to go to bat for you, so to speak.

My sympathies, and my best wishes to you at this time.

Crampedin13A

It is good to know that there still is that discretionary power at the BA Contact Centres. I truly hope that people don't abuse it but some don't care how low they have to go to get a deal. I would encourage the OP to call and explain their situation. The amount of goodwill that BA agent gained with what she did for me(I was still stunned by the sudden news) when some airlines would have just charged 6 or 7 times more for a seat even on a bereavement fare that would have been empty anyway is well into low 6 figures over the years by me making them my first choice for TATL.^

Teefaf

I have no advice to share, but would like to offer my condolences. Best wishes to you and yours for the tough days ahead, W9London.

Expatbear

I found the same when I was going back to the states for a similar reason about three years ago. Had to make changes to the return a couple of times due to the ongoing medical issues and they were very flexible indeed.

LeisureFirst

If you need to travel at very short notice bear in mind that redemptions often open up a couple of days before a flight and will cost the same as if you bought them months ago - and of course they are pretty flexible.

If you need to fly to LAX tomorrow, it will cost you a cool £8250 on a revenue ticket (in J) but there's plenty of redemption availability for 100k miles. (This was absolutely the first example I tested.)

Other than that, just shop around and perhaps be prepared for a funny routing. For my previous example, you can get a revenue ticket on Swiss for just £2260 or Delta for a bit more - not much more than quarter of the cost of BA although with a bit of extra inconvenience. It's just an example, but it shows you need to be a bit more flexible.

But if that doesn't work, I'm afraid these sorts of events are when the rainy-day fund needs to be used. And I suppose there's always the M cabin .

Camflyer

Fortunately, I have never been in the situation (yet) to need such a fare but my understanding is that it also depends upon your status with the airline. If you are a Gold then you have a much better chance of being helped out than if you walk in off the street.

Elite status also allows you to take advantage of the "reservation guarantee" perks, as long as you don't feel bad about someone else being thrown off the plane.

Reality_Czech

Why would a bereavement fare be in anything other than economy cabin?

LeisureFirst

Well I wasn't talking specifically about "bereavement fares" offered as a separate product, but the general problem of how to get somewhere in an emergency without paying through the nose for the privelege. That's a valid question in any cabin, but most people on here seem to travel in Club by default, at least on longhaul.

Since you mention it, there's actually a better case for BA offering bereavement fares in J than M. That's because the short-notice WT fare can be quite reasonable, but in CW they have very strict AP requirements, presumably to screw the business passenger rather than to penalzie an individual needing to travel for an emergency. If by "bereavement fare" we mean waiving any AP requirements, as many seem to imply, that's going to have far more impact in CW than in WT.

malkie

Very sorry to hear of you needing such a ticket.....

My personal experience was asking for a last minute ticket LHR-IAD-LHR in Y and was quoted £1100 in 2002. That was at a ticket desk in LHR-T4 - the sales clerk was extremely apologetic but said he was limited to what the system could offer.

£1100 wasn't something I had at that time.

Reality_Czech

Which would be fine if OP was affected by AP issues, but they look for flexibility.

BA does not have civic duty to give bereavement fare and it does not look like they offer much now anyway. But if it is going to be generous, then it should only be economy. If you can expect or can afford business class travel, then you should not be looking for discuont from airline.

For OP, it depends on routing. If we know that, i reckon a good cost option can be found whether BA or other.

LeisureFirst

I hope you were able to go on another airline. A bit of imagination may be required but IAD shouldn't be hard to reach.

My own fears in this regard mainly involve the possibility of having to return to London suddenly when away, when I'd be interested not such much in a bereavement fare as bereavement flexibility, i.e. a ticket change that wouldn't normally be allowed. I got a very strange response from BA when I asked about this once for a friend who was seriously ill. I explained he was in hospital and couldn't travel so needed to change (or cancel) his ticket.
So apparently if you are ill and it's more serious that merely life-threatening then there are special rules. Sorry to be flippant about such a sad situation, but it makes me think that perhaps actual death is therefore suffcient for them to do something.

Globaliser

It really depends on what you mean by "bereavement fare".

There is a very good case for airlines to offer a "bereavement fare" in the sense of "I really need to get to X very quickly because my father has died (or is about to die) but the cheapest fare that you are currently offering for sale is too expensive for me, and because I can't afford it I will not be at my own father's funeral." You would not expect the airline to offer anything more fancy than a reasonably-priced economy class ticket, and then only if such a "bereavement fare" is cheaper than the cheapest fare that you could otherwise buy. If fraud has led to the airlines withdrawing this type of fare, that is a pity.

I can't myself see any sort of case for airlines to offer a "bereavement fare" in the sense of "I really need to get to X very quickly because my father has died (or is about to die), and I could perfectly well afford the cheapest fare that you are currently offering for sale, so that there is no danger of me having to miss my own father's funeral; but I would prefer to travel there in a premium cabin because I like the style to which I have become accustomed, and I would like a generous discount please because of the circumstances in which I'm travelling." If you want to travel in a premium cabin, pay for it.

HilFly

When BA did offer bereavement fares (or whatever they were called), they were only offered in WT.

GaryK84

Wouldn't travel insurance kick in at this point if an illness prevents someone from travelling?