I am expecting a death in the family and will be flying on one day notice. Does anyone have any suggestions on the most economical way to fly under these circumstances? Are there last minute airline ticket websites that people use? Thank you.

Most airlines have a family crisis ticket price. I would suggest getting in touch with a local travel agent or calling the airline direct for information on how to get that price and it is substancially discounted ticket price. You will need to provide some kind of documentation, so call and find out what you will need.

Thoughts are with you and your family.

tweedy

Paul:
Frommers recently had some information on this subject. Check their website Frommers.com for past newsletters and you should find it. Hope everything goes well.

Sorry to hear of your circumstances.

I used Airtran recently to fly back from Florida. Their cheapest tickets don't require any advance/Saturday. For $79 I purchased a one way ticket with 3 days notice. I compared many other airlines / sources and nothing came closer than $150. The web site gave better rates than when I used their 800 number.

About a year and a half ago we had similar situation. Continental quoted a $525 RT bereavement fare, but (after asking) they also had availability on the lowest fare in the market (Tuesday departure, same day reservations). I didn't know which day I was going to return, so we booked the return on a day when the fares were cheapest. (~$155 RT) . We changed return days (once we knew when we could return) via Cust. service and they waived the change fee.

GOL, what information or documentation did you need with Continental, I think that would help alot of us to know.

Thanks,

tweedy

Paul I just talked to Delta Airlines and all they need is the information and phone number of the Doctor, or faciltiy to approve the discounted fare.

Again, hope this helps.

tweedy

They requested some "proof" of death - if I used the Bereavement fare, which I did not.

It was sticky because we were 'summoned' to the death bed. My relative died while I was on there in the hopsital. Continental requested that I provide the proof on my return flight home. If I could not provide proof, I would have to pay full fare. Again, I didn't use the bereavement flight because a much better fare was available.

[I suspect Continental would not have actually charged me the extra, they just wanted to make sure this was a legit. emergency rather than taking advantage.]

USAirways was very accomodating when I had to arrange travel around my father's death several years ago. But recently I've been using www.biztravel.com to book both business and personal flights, with long notice ($166 RT last week for Baltimore/Orlando at Christmas time) and short notice ($73.50 one-way Baltimore to Raleigh at 3PM one afternoon for the next AM at 8:30. One-way because the return is "open"). I know this next bit sounds like an ad, but I'm not a travel industry person. That one-way flight was cancelled. USAirways (they remain my favored carrier) made alternate travel arrangements, however because I booked it via biztravel, I'll get reimbursed for the $73.50! Takes the sting out of turning a three-hour trip (counting to/from airports at both ends) into a daylong ordeal. They make their guarantee for a selected number of airlines (United and Northwest are not included) It's certainly worth a shot for last-minute ticketing.

As someone suggested, Frommers did have a very good article on this subject this week in their newsletter, here is the URL for the article: http://www.frommers.com/newsletters/.../article4.html
Basically their advice is check a few consolidators (and they give you a list of names and numbers) as they are the only places likely to give you cheap last-minute fares, or fly a regular lowcost airline like Southwest who doesn't have excessive fares for last-minute purchase, or go with the bereavement fare. If it's not a major city, I think it's unlikely you'll get a good consolidator ticket. Bereavement fares are usu. half price off regular coach, I think--I've used them twice in the last couple years without a hitch and the airlines were very nice and helpful about it (I know I used United once and either United or USAir the other time). One big advantage to bereavement fares in comparison to consolidator etc tickets is they are regular fare tickets so you can change return times and dates at any time without any penalty; this is often very useful during such events. In fact, I think you could cancel the whole ticket without penalty, also, if you found some other way to travel, etc. United requires the name and phone number of the funeral director and the name of the deceased, that's all, which was also nice because it's not very burdensome to get that info. I didn't have to go that far so a half-price fare ticket was fine with me, and I didn't want to spend my time hunting for cheap fares during such a period.

The "competition," as mentioned, had a very informative article online this week. Here's the URL:
http://www.frommers.com/newsletters/.../article4.html

Thanks to everyone for the information. It was most helpful.