Bereavement rate?
 

Hello all,

Thanks in advance for any/all information...

Is there a standard rate for bereavement flights via NW? Procedures?

Trying to get someone from SEA to DTW for Tuesday...


Thank you,
Mb

call the 1-800 number.

This isn't really MR related, but I'll tell you what I know. A lot of airlines (Delta and US I know of) cut out these fares because people were abusing them. I'm almost sure that NW still has them. I never fly them, but I did have to check recently for a friend who needed to attend a funeral in Florida. I know she had 2 choices, and 1 was definitely UA. Most of the airlines said they don't offer them anymore, and UA was the lowest. I remember calling every airline and getting 2 fares -- one on UA and 80% sure the other was on NW. I know UA's was the lowest, and that's what she went with.

I know it's not much help, but maybe it will help you some. You do have to call the 800 number to book it. You also have to provide them with the funeral home name and number and the name of the deceased plus relation to you. They really want to document this stuff to try and keep people from abusing them. I can't imagine for the life of me why anyone would use death as an excuse to get a cheap fare, but I guess some people have no shame.

I hope this helped you some and I'm very sorry for your loss.

Wrong forum...
 

Thank you for the quick responses bspencerco and chicaloca453.

But Im very sorry... It has been long day, I meant to post this in the NW forum.

Sorry.
Mb

Sorry about your loss. You could also try Southwest who flies from SEA-DTW. Looks like $210 ow, but that might work.

try priceline & hotwire...
 

That's what we ended up doing for my grandmother's funeral. The bereavement fares were so much higher.

We just checked on Bereavement fares on Delta and they were $10 more than the Delta web price. Total joke. We ended up using miles.

That has been exactly my experience. Bereavement fares usually give people heart attacks when they realize how expensive they are - maybe 50% off the full Y fare.

One good option to check for last minute flights like this if you have flexibility to travel any time of the day in both directions in Hotwire or Priceline. They generally dont do very good on flights anymore but once in a while their last minute prices are not bad.

Sorry about your loss.

Consider trying the Travelocity Last Minute Deals search:
http://travelocity.lmdeals.com/

It's usually only good for weekend flights (travel on Thursday-Tuesday), but it can often times come up with very reasonable prices. For example, last Thursday I was looking at going MSP - JAX departing Friday...less than 24 hours in advance. Last Minute Deals quoted me something like $290 including a car rental. NWA.com and other travel sites were quoting me at least twice that for a less than 24 hour advance purchase.

Hope that helps.

Unless you have to have NW, I would go with UA for sure. They will give you the lowest fare available and also will allow you to change it if you need to for no extra charges. I would say UA is the best for these type of fares. I had to use one this year and they came out like a champ. Just have the Dr. information or the funeral homes information.

They did very well for me and I'm sure you will see they will do the same for you. The fact they allow you to change the flights with no extra costs is a plus also for us. I had to stay an extra couple days to clean up some issues and they changed the return with no problem at all.

Give them a call.

Is there any way they verify this bereavement rate? If there is no serious checking system used by the airlines, I'd like to use this bereavement rate on my next MR. Would be an easy way to reduce cost.

:mad: Unbelievable.

Also, a one-way express ticket to hell.

Yes, as other posters have stated, they ask for both the funeral home name and the deceased's name. And I have had a funeral home director come up to me and discreetly inform me that he had had a phone call from NW asking about the funeral I was attending. So it's not really the best idea from an operational standpoint.

From a moral standpoint, I think your idea is despicable. Have you no shame? :mad:

If all else fails, try Site 59.

I've learned that this type of a situation is great time to use frequent flyer miles -- it's better than spending time, energy and effort to get a decent fare.

Sorry about your loss..... (and bring warm clothes to Michigan -- we've already had a lot of snow !)

Bob H

[Post removed - I just realized that this was a NW thread]

[...........]

I've never found this to be a problem. Obits often mention the funeral home. Just scan the destination's local paper a few days before the trip and claim that the deceased was a close family friend. The airline isn't going to ask for proof of attendence - I suppose if you are really paranoid you can work in 5 minutes to drop by during the visitation (it can be awkward is the visitation is lightly attended and the family asks who you are . . . acting like you are too overrought to speak can sometimes get you out of these conversations).

An added benefit is that on some airlines your return is totally flexible on a bereavement rate.

Hotwire/PL are better alternatives if time of day isn't an issue.

FWIW when my grandma passed, found a cheaper restricted fare than what a Bereavement fare was, by chance, on NW.

And we wonder why bereavement fares have gone up in price over the years? :rolleyes:

I don't think they have. However, the cheapest fares have come down enormously making the bereavement fares far less attractive.

But the key advantage for the bereavement fares is the flexibility that the cheap fares don't offer. As most F/T'ers know, there's usually 100 different ways of booking/routing a trip.

Depending on the situation, it may be cheaper to fly one of the LCCs on last-minute one-way tickets if the loads are light and you're somewhat flexible with your schedule. As always, YMMV.

When I had to travel for a family medical emergency, I went with a cheap Roundtrip S/T(?) fare. Wound up paying a $100 change fee when the trip had to be extended. Even with the change fee, it was cheaper than the bereavement fare.

Bereavement fares, with their full-Y flexibility (hence the cost), can make sense when you're going to visit someone who is very sick or on their death bed but you really don't know how long you're going to be there; e.g., how long before they're out of the hospital or how long before they actually die, how long before the funeral happens, how long before affairs are finished up. Even so, a cheap round trip plus change fees can still be cheaper, as djerikd mentions.

If you're travelling to a funeral where you already know the date, just get whatever cheapest roundtrip you can. Or use miles.

Nw
 

In the last year we have lost 3 family members and each time I was able to use NWA miles to get them home with a standard award. Would this be a possiblily? If you are short of miles maybe someone could do a trade with you. Sorry for your loss..

As this was originally a discussion regarding NW bereavement fares & changed into a discussion about bereavement fares as a whole, I'm going to move this to TravelBuzz.

bhatnasx
Mileage Run Moderator

Sure, if you believe in such fairy tales.

Since some folks have asked: No, I've never used a bereavement fare for a MR (or for the usual reason). Sometimes my sense of humor is a bit dry.

I do so hope this is your idea of humour and that you would not seriously do this. Though strongly suspect you might considering the nature of the post, and the truly pathetic nature of your subsequent post (and I am not the 'God-fearing' type).

We live in such a sick world, and it is only getting worst if people think that saving a few Dollars justifies any form of behavior, i.e. making money a 'value' to be attained over real values. Morally despicable does not even cover it - by abusing these fares and getting the airlines to pull them you stop people who really need to use them from being able to afford to attend the funerals of their loved ones. People (i.e. the vast majority of the public) who may not have the luxury of having miles to burn. Sick.

About time certain people had a long hard look at themselves, and started to look at their life priorities. Your fellow man will not respect you if you don't respect him, and I for one don't want to live in a dog-eat-dog world. Sounds like you frederoil may be the type who does though.

Sickest and most selfish thing I have ever read on FT to date. If you don't feel ashamed of yourself frederoil you need professional help.

While (as I posted above) I haven't abused bereavement fares and I think at the least doing so would be in bad taste, I don't really think what is being suggested is as bad as what the airlines do themselves.

Consider the "Donate your miles to TragedyVictims/KidsWith/Cancer/ServicemenOnLeave/etc." Programs that the airlines often run:

Let's say they sell 25K mile to a credit card company for $200 (probably a low figure). Then someone who earns the miles from the CC company donates them back to help some deserving soul get a free Domestic Saver Award. The marginal cost to them on this award is likely to be less than $30. So They are making $170 bucks on someone's generosity.

If they had any integrity they would make an offer of "donate 5K miles and we'll give someone in need an award seat". . . .and they'd still likely make a slight profit on the transaction. Until they do that, I am not going to look down on someone that abuses bereavement fares and costs the airlines some extra profit.

But bereavement fares arent cheap, their advantage is that they're flexible. If you need a bereavement fare to save money on a MR, you didn't plan well...

You make a really good point.

I received this notice via email today from NW:

New Domestic Medical/Bereavement Fare Policy
Effective December 13, 2005, Northwest Airlines will require a WorldPerks number in a reservation for the customer to be eligible for discounted one way and roundtrip emergency fares for travel within the 50 U.S. and Canada when travel is due to the hospitalization or death of an immediate family member. Immediate family members are defined as spouse, domestic partners, children (including adopted children), parent, brother, sister, grandparent, grandchild (any step/adopted/half/in-law versions), great-grandparent, niece, nephew, aunt, uncle.

Membership in any other frequent flyer program will not qualify customers for a domestic medical/ bereavement fare.

[deleted by the moderator -- inappropriate violation of FT TOS. --richard, moderator]

...............................