I am looking into Bereavement Fares and the lowest I could find was $359.50. I then looked at Bestfares.com and saw fares starting at $172 but I must be a member. The membership fee is $59.90. If I could get the low fare posted it would be a great savings as there are four of us traveling.
My question is, does anyone have any experience with paying the membership fee and actually getting the low fare posted?
Thank you

I don't, but have you exhausted the "no-cost" alternatives like Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity?

Thank you for your prompt response. I did look into Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity and the lowest fare I could find was $286. I do have some flexibility as I do not need to leave until May 7.

Where are you going and when?

I am going from Norfolk, VA to Syracuse, NY
My mother passed away in Virginia but cannot be burried until May 8 because of the groud still being frozen.
I would like to leave May 7 and return either the 10th or 11th.
Thank you for any input

The other thing to look into is hotwire and priceline. A co-worker of mine's grandmother passed away last week, and he found that hotwire's price beat anything else he could find.

That said, make sure that you allow enough flexibility when you put in your dates, since you can't choose your flight times (i.e. if you need to be there saturday afternoon, don't count on getting a saturday morning flight, look at friday instead, etc)

However, since you're not really looking at last-minute travel here, it's not clear these options are the best for you... I've found that farther away from the dates, hotwire seems to just mirror the best fares on orbitz, etc...

Dan

Sorry for your loss.
to answer your actual question

there have been a lot of complaints of what exactly you are worried about with best fares....you pay their membership than the fares you want are not available.

Bereavement fares are often NOT the lowest as for bereavement fares, it is a discount off the highest fare and not an actual discount, buy in advance fare. Bereavement fares also usually allow you to change return w/ out penalty as they are aware sometimes needs change around a death or serious illness.

If you are sure of the dates you could go w/ a hotwire or priceline - keep in mind you are locked into those flights, they are almost always connecting flights, and can leave anytime of the day or evening. so you might leave at 10 PM on a Friday for examole, and eeturn 7 AM on a SUnday.

What city pairs are you looking at? we might have beter advice ...

You can get it down to $220 if you leave Saturday, May 10 and return Monday after noon or Tuesday or Wednesday the next week.

orbitz and continental are now showing a non refundable web fare of 245 plus fees = about 252

If you are a frequent flyer, you could also use points to get the flights...

My friends did that a while back... He was going to Canada and it would have costed him an arm and a leg if he had to pay the berievement fare.

Thank you all for your help. I guess I will continue looking to see if anything comes up. I could not find the $245 fare on Orbitz but will continue to check there. Also, I need to be in Syracuse by May 8 so the May 10 date would not work. I have thought about using frequent flier miles but not sure I am ready to use 100k for all of us. I may just end up driving.
Thanks again for all the input.

Here's what I found for Hotwire, leaving 7th, returning 11th:


Wed, May 7, 2003 Round-trip ticket: $226
Booking fee per ticket: + $5
Total cost per ticket: $231

Somehow my previous post didn't show up...

Checked Hotwire and the fare from the 7th to the 11th was about $230 (going from memory now). Check it out.

Thank you everyone for your quick and helpful posts. This truly is a wonderful source of information and greatly appreciated. After looking in all options, it looks like we will be driving after all.
Thank you all again for your help and input.

No way would I PAY for any service with all the ways to make a reservation and/or check airfares. And, the fare you saw surely had some restrictions which means your $$ would be long gone.

And, as mentioned Bereavement fares are no deal. The only time they work is when you are buying a last minute fare,and then onlly sometimes.