Good agents are like gold - here's proof
 

G'day all,
Yesterday I found our my Father passed away in Australia and I work in China.

Within two hours and thirty minutes a wonderful travel agent by the name of Vicky [email protected] had all my tickets arranged to Australia and my Hotel in HKG ($499 HKD) booked and ticketed, guaranteed only on the basis of my honour that I will turn up in HKG and pay for the tickets. I just had to get to HKG from Xiamen which in itself is not always easy.

Point being - this cements the whole argument in my mind out agents vs web sites. Stick with an agent and a good one will stick with you.

P.S. HKG-Adelaide-HKG on Malaysian airlines $3649 HKD (excellent deal)

For HKG pax, check out www.tiglion.com and ask for Vicky. If there was a Freddie award for agents - She gets my nomination.

Yes - this is a recommendation and I am proud of it.

Now the funeral (it was expected - not a surprise)

Glad the flight plan, etc is going smoothly for you.

I'm very sorry to learn of your loss http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

I, too just recently went through a similar situation. I empathize.

All the very best to you and you family.

Condolences to you and your family, davistev. I wish you the easiest trip possible.

In the past I had to travel twice to attend funerals. The first time I checked airline funeral fares it was twice the price of a discounted ticket and therefore no use to me. The second time the price was four times the price of a discounted ticket. It seems that when someone is griefstricken by the death of a love one, it becomes the airline industry's opportunity to rip you off.

Davistev,

My thoughts and condolences to you and your family in this difficult time.

Davistev,
I am sorry to learn of your loss, and wish you all the best in this difficult time. I hope that your trip continues to go as well as a trip like this could.

When I worked as a travel agent...I remember coming across a pnr where an ATO basically gave the pax the lowest published fare in the market for a situation like this (rather than the airlines higher special fare). They just documented the record they were issuing fare basis xxx due to family emergency per ... at the ato.

Thank you for your thoughts people.

Yes, bereavement fares are a touchy issue and one that could be discussed on this forum.

1) Some agents have no idea bereavement fares and are ill-informed.(although Industry discount fares tend to be cheap if you can waive the restrictions in a case like this)
2) PNR are a good way to make a trip a little easier IF IT IS USED SPARINGLY. The more requests an airline gets, the greater the likelihood something like this could slip through. (My wife and I were not upgraded but we were given the exit row seats with a space between us - 747-400B on what was a full flight.)Frankly, we were just happy to get a seat with no notice.

Cheers all.

Dave Stevenson

my condolences to u and ur family, davistev..

i too, had a similiar experience last year while in paris... my father passed away suddenly, and i had to find 4 tkts back to SFO at 6a.m. paris time...
was not as fortunate as u, i called delta in the states, she sold me 4 restricted bereavement tkts, (code share with AF) 50% off regular fare....
at the airport i found out that air france had the regular unrestricted Y fare the same as what i had paid!
not only i didnt actually get 50% off, i couldnt upgrade our tkts! (using mileage)
and the agents at CDG delta counter werent of much help either.... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

anyway, sorry i brought this up, but just to let everyone know bereavement fares r not actually the best deal....

wishing u: --all through the way with smooth winds-- as the chinese saying goes...

My sympathies to you and your family.

Davistev - Sorry to here of your recent loss,
my condolences are with you and your family.
Hope your trip went well, all things being considered.

My thoughts are with you and your family
on this sad day. Agents like vicki provide
a touch of humanity thats is so important
in times like this.

USAirways went out of their way to get my wife a bereavement fare recently and I too was very appreciative. We didn't use a travel agent (although I quite understand your argument and can agree wholeheartedly) but they were great in a tough time.