Heidi

My husband's ailing grandmother lives in Italy. There's a very good chance we will have to make last minute plans to travel to her funeral in the upcoming future. Now I don't want to sound like I'm right out of "Seinfeld," but do the airlines offer any discounts for family members who must travel to attend funerals? Last minute travel is ridiculously expensive, but it's not like we can plan this to comply with airline booking availability....

Marc David Miller

In the pre-deregulation days airlines offered substantial discounts for such tickets; now they are less and less worthwhile, but you can ask the airlines that go on your desired route. As for evidence, I don't know what the requirements are beyond morals; I am curious.

Rex

I have had one single anecdotal experience - - not entirely relevant to your situation, Heidi - - of US travelers who needed to return home due to a death in the family. A fax of a letter from the funeral home opened a lot of doors for then to get home (CHANGE an existing flight reservation to six days ahead of schedule) - - at NO surcharge. <BR> <BR>Thus, if there are family members in Italy who can have the presence of mind to have the funeral home fax some approropriate documentation to you - - it might help. <BR> <BR>Best wishes - - even in this less than happy circumstance... <BR> <BR>Rex <BR>

Julie

Chances are that you'll need the name, address and phone number of the funeral home, as well as the directors name. The airlines will call the funeral home and get back to you with a price.

Christina

Why don't you call up an airline and ask? their policies probably vary. I've used them several times in the US, so I would presume they have such fares abroad. All they required was name, address and phone no. etc of funeral director and name of deceased (I doubt if they called, but they had it in case they wanted to, I'm sure if they saw a pattern somewhere, they would). The fare was very good and they were very nice to me, I really appreciated it. It was about 1/2 the std coach fare which was decent for me as I wasn't going that far. A big advantage of these fares is that they are just like a fullfare coach ticket, completely changeable or cancellable with no costs or penalties--espec if you think your return date is up in the air, that is a big help. It's true that 50 pct of last minute coach to Italy would not be so cheap, but it might not be that bad -- perhaps about like an APEX fare but with added benefits? Your alternative is obviously to get last minute tickets from a consolidator or one of those bidding web sites.

micia

I do not know how it is coming from the US, but from Italy to the US, every single company has thier own deals. <BR>I found most to not be worth it ( they are not cheap or you needed the documentation done so& so). <BR>Some have good policies others it was best to just buy a normal ticket. <BR>I think that KLM had a great plan in these situations, but don't remember to well. <BR>There is a site on the web dealing with these matters but again I don't remember the name, I use yahoo to find everything everytime I need something. <BR>I would call each airline that serves your city and ask their policy. <BR>It is always good to have this info ahead of time. <BR>If anyone knows the site I am mentioning, please let us all know. <BR>

Heidi

Thanks to everyone for their sensitive feedback. At first I thought I might be chastized for posting this question (or at least subject to tasteless jokes...), but I really appreciate all the suggestions people have made. I found a great looking site called http://www.bereavementair.com/, which is affiliated with American Express. I wonder if this is what micia was referencing? <BR> <BR>Kind regards to all.

Paige

I just had to travel from Munich to Dallas on one day's notice and the best deal was a regular fare on Air France for about $350 roundtrip. I called Lufthansa, Delta and American and their bereavement fares were more expensive than the cheapest fares on Travelocity, which were more than double what we paid. Some of my cousins flew from Seattle and paid ridiculous prices for bereavement fares, but that was the cheapest they could get.