I'm looking for some advice for my sister:

She and her family flew to Europe two weeks ago with a planned return of August 1st. Since they left, our grandmother has gotten very ill and doesn't have much time left. I called CO to ask about changing their return flights if it looks like they will need to come back early. I got no help other than a quote of the change fee and the current price for an earlier date.

At this point I would like some ideas of how to tell her to proceed if she needs to come back early. Is there any kind of "break" CO might give for this kind of family member terminal illness situation? Or if things go very badly, how do bereavement fares work?

Any ideas would be great...thanks.

yes. keep calling until you get the answer you want. conditions vary widely depending on the mood of the rep. you talk to.

I have changed my itinerary returning from Europe on many occasions. The policy I have always heard is you can change return date for a $150 change fee as long as there is availability on the flight you want to take. You can not change your airport without paying the difference in the fare. If you try to change a return before taking the outbound then they will change your fare but otherwise it is just the change fee if you already in process on the itin.

Example #1

origianl itin was
6/6 EWR - LGW
6/25 LGW - EWR

If you already took the flight on 6/6 and decided you would like to come back on 6/17 then all you would pay is $150 per ticket

Example 2

6/6 EWR - LGW
6/25 MAN - EWR

If you already took the flight on 6/6 and decided you would like to come back on 6/17 but from DUB then you would pay $150 per ticket plus the new fare. your new itinerary would look like this

6/6 EWR - LGW
6/17 DUB - EWR

I don't know if I have always been lucky but this has always been the case for me

prncess674, you were not lucky, those are the rules for the non-refundable tickets that have change penalty when modified.

Ninety-nine percent of published international fares have a clause that in the event of in-patient hospitalization or death of family member (including grandmother) or passenger, the change fee is waived. Hospice should also qualify (based on the intent of the rule), but is not specifically mentioned in the rule.

If you have a bulk ticket, you must go by the rules of that ticket, and change fees will not generally be waived.

I hope you have better luck when you call back.

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I am not a sanctioned representative of Continental on these boards, just an interested participant.

Thanks ResAgent86,

You saved my sister $450 in change fees. Nobody that I talked to at CO volunteered this information, but once I raised the question to an agent, she checked the rules and verified it.

My sister said to thank you for the help.