Bereavement Fares
 

A woman who works are my daughter's pre-school had a week from hell lasts week. First she had to have an emergency operation on Monday. Then on Friday, she found out her sister died. She is basically the cleaning lady of the place, she's single, in her 40s/50s.

The school put out one of those "can you help" type letters with getting her to fly to SFO area where her sister will be buried.

I'd like to help and was thinking of buying her airfare

So my question to you all is about bereavement fares. Do they still exist? Are they even worth going through the hassle for? Is there another way to do this...like a donation site for FF miles, that type of thing? Luckily I've never had to deal with anything like this personally so I just don't know.

This is a small, close-knit school and the staff treat the kids so well. I'd really like to help her out. I'd just like some options on saving a little money if they're out there.

Often, bereavement fares are not the cheapest fares. Many FTers know some ways to get cheaper fares, like looking at Oakland fares. If the person is leaving from a small town, like Moses Lake, WA, it may be cheaper to have someone drive her to SEA.

Bereavement fares don't really exist any more. The idea is a relic from the old days when there were two kinds of government-regulated airfares, cheaper APEX and expensive walk-up.

The price for a SEA-SFO roundtrip this weekend (down Friday, back Sunday) looks set at $405, which isn't very good at all. OAK is only a little cheaper at $356. Try Priceline, or perhaps a group of you can get a clump of FF miles together by transferring.

a few comments
 

bereavement fares are aimed at folks who are going somewhere due to death/illness and don't know how long they will need to stay - they are a discount off full fares no great bargain if you have specific dates.

If you are taking a collection anyway, I would purchase a flight that is the least stress for the employee/friend. priceline, multiple connections that aren't necessary, flying into an alternate airport where she will have problems getting to where she needs to go - if you're going to help, help with what she needs.

All other things being equal, SFO has better public transport options to SF, but has more delays.

I agree. If at all possible, help her to get there with as little stress as you can.

It would be difficult to leave from Moses Lake anyway since there are currently no commercial flights from MWH. Wenatchee (EAT) or Pasco (PSC) would be the closest airports with commercial flights. Spokane (GEG) would in most cases be less expensive and Spokane is closer to drive to than Seattle.

Thanks for the replies.

That's what I figured, no cheap way around it.

She'll be flying from Spokane...didn't even know Moses Lake had an airport. Odd that you assumed we're in Moses Lake. Is that what people think when they see Inland NW :p?

She has family in the Bay Area so getting to from the airport won't be an issue since she'll have rides.

Anyway to complete the story, I talked to another dad at the school and we're going 1/2 and 1/2 in on it. $200ish each works out well enough. We're both evil rich white guys and can afford it (per Obama). OK, OK, I know. I just had to throw that in. Returning back to the regularly scheduled program.....

Actually, Moses Lake has a rather large airport. (According to Wikipedia, it's one of the largest in the United States, the main runway is 13,500 ft long.) It was originally Moses Lake Army Air base, then Larsen Air Force Base, and is now Grant County International Airport. Boeing uses it as a heavy jet training facility, and Japan Airlines once trained their 747 pilots there. Very strange to drive through on I-90 and see 747s flying low, practicing touch-and-go landings in the middle of nowhere. I understand it was also an emergency landing site for the space shuttle. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_S..._landing_sites)

Generally last minute.. bereavement fares are quite expensive even after the discount..

If I'm not mistaken the bereavement fare is open ended, meaning you can go to a sick relative and stay until they expire and are buried. I read up on them a little while back, and according to what I read you have to be able to produce Dr. letters and/or a death notice or some other documentation.

Recently my dad had to travel to a funeral MCO> SAN> MCO on UA, and it turned out cheaper to buy a low fare ticket and pay a change fee for the return leg.

I've found this to be the case three times within the past year (regretfully.)

Two of those times I was actually able to pay less by simply booking a deep discount Y ticket from the airline instead of taking them up on the bereavement fare.

That's been my experience as well. The fares I booked on the airline website (in my case DL) were less than the bereavement fare offered.

^ KoKoBuddy, that's such a generous thing for you to do. I'm sure the lady appreciates it more than you know.

That's what I have been told as well.. To shop around before pulling on the bereavement ticket deal..

50% off full fare tends to be a bit higher than what is available..

My condolences..