Bereavement tickets
 

My mother-in-law just lost her fight with cancer, and is to be buried in Ohio. I called the airlines and the 'discounted' fares are cheaper than a bereavement fare...but the 'discounted' fare still runs close to $400.00. (gasp)
The cheapest I have been able to find is Hotwire.com, but my husband doesn't take well to the idea of not knowing the airline we will be travelling with (approx. $220.00 from Hotwire)
Does anyone have any experiences with Hotwire they could share with me, or any advice on how to get a decent fare with a good airline? Things are tight for us and we don't have any travel experience.
We need to be in Columbus from Pensacola on Sat. September 11...thinking of leaving on the 10 and returning on the 12.
Thanks for your time!

Sorry to hear about your loss.

Hotwire only uses major airlines like Delta, United and Continental. You won't get an airline you've never heard of. You MAY get inconvenient flight times and you won't get freq flyer miles, but for a $180 savings per ticket it's something to consider.

Try www.site59.com

My condolences on your loss. One thing to consider is the flight back. When I had to get a bereveament fare from Northwestern (several times, actually), they asked for a return date, just to book the ticket, but it was changeable without a penalty. This was good, since things came up, and I had to change the return in each instance. Something to consider...

With regards to the cheap flight deals, in my experience, going with a good flight time is worth the world. I would up on red-eye flights twice during the end of my Mother's struggle with cancer, and foregoing sleep on those nights really made a bad situation worse.

Thanks for the advice, and the condolences. I think we are going to try for Hotwire and just cross my fingers.
I just really wish the airlines would understand that just because you are grieving a loved one doesn't mean that you are suddenly independently wealthy.