Death in the family

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Jul 2nd, 2015 8:14 am

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Jul 1st, 2015 3:54 pm

Messerschmitt [OP]: Banned; Jul 17, 2008; 11042 posts; 3869 upvotes

Jul 1st, 2015 3:54 pm

Death in the family

Do airlines not offer some refunds for deaths in the family?

My situation is that we booked through flighthub instead of BA directly, and we have already completed our journey. But if they still offer discounts for family death related travel, they should offer a refund if the flight already happened. I'm just not sure about the whole flighthub deal. Phone the CS of BA, they said to talk with flighthub since I booked with them. Phoned flighthub and their agent sounded totally clueless and he said there is no such thing, and kept mentioning that we could get a refund if the flight did not took place. He kept missing the point that the whole reason we flew was BECAUSE of the death in the family, not that our travel was interrupted because of our tragedy.

12 replies

Jul 1st, 2015 4:05 pm

Striker317: Sr. Member; Sep 26, 2006; 858 posts; 244 upvotes; North York

Jul 1st, 2015 4:05 pm

Messerschmitt wrote: ↑Do airlines not offer some refunds for deaths in the family?

My situation is that we booked through flighthub instead of BA directly, and we have already completed our journey. But if they still offer discounts for family death related travel, they should offer a refund if the flight already happened. I'm just not sure about the whole flighthub deal. Phone the CS of BA, they said to talk with flighthub since I booked with them. Phoned flighthub and their agent sounded totally clueless and he said there is no such thing, and kept mentioning that we could get a refund if the flight did not took place. He kept missing the point that the whole reason we flew was BECAUSE of the death in the family, not that our travel was interrupted because of our tragedy.

You are asking for a bereavement fare.

Not sure how it would work if you don't book it from the airlines. Most airlines offer some sort of bereavement fare.

+1

Jul 1st, 2015 4:06 pm

starchoice: Deal Addict; Oct 13, 2007; 4488 posts; 3399 upvotes; Edmonton

Jul 1st, 2015 4:06 pm

To get the benefit of bereavement fare, you need to book directly with the airline. The easiest way is to do this is in advance so you get the discount right away. After the fact, you need to provide various evidence of death. I have done this numerous times. However, keep in mind that if there is a reduced or discount fare, it is possible that it may be cheaper than a bereavement fare.

I'm guessing that Flight Hub has no way of providing a discount since this would originate with the airline. The margins are too small for them to care.

+1

Jul 1st, 2015 4:15 pm

cgtlky: Deal Fanatic; Jan 31, 2006; 8029 posts; 2357 upvotes; Toronto

Jul 1st, 2015 4:15 pm

Let say you just like to refund (reason: just change your mind), call flighthub they will do it for a fee. Call the airline they will say we charge $200 for cancellation. But if the airline past you back to flighthub then it might be a code sharing (aircraft operated by a partner).

I did a refund/cancel thru the airline itself and have no problem even I purchase the ticket thru a travel agency. Just ask BA if the flight is a code sharing or not.

Jul 1st, 2015 9:13 pm

Messerschmitt [OP]: Banned; Jul 17, 2008; 11042 posts; 3869 upvotes

Jul 1st, 2015 9:13 pm

cgtlky wrote: ↑Let say you just like to refund (reason: just change your mind), call flighthub they will do it for a fee. Call the airline they will say we charge $200 for cancellation. But if the airline past you back to flighthub then it might be a code sharing (aircraft operated by a partner).

I did a refund/cancel thru the airline itself and have no problem even I purchase the ticket thru a travel agency. Just ask BA if the flight is a code sharing or not.

Like I said, this is not a cancellation. The whole reason to take the flight was for the loss of family.

starchoice wrote: ↑To get the benefit of bereavement fare, you need to book directly with the airline. The easiest way is to do this is in advance so you get the discount right away. After the fact, you need to provide various evidence of death. I have done this numerous times. However, keep in mind that if there is a reduced or discount fare, it is possible that it may be cheaper than a bereavement fare.

I'm guessing that Flight Hub has no way of providing a discount since this would originate with the airline. The margins are too small for them to care.

Thanks. I'l keep in mind. I actually did look at BA site as well before booking, but the ticket was roughly 700$ more expensive vs flight hub. 2200ish vs 1500ish. How much does one typically get from a bereavement fare?
I guess there is no point in pursuing this as i did not book with the airline directly.

Jul 1st, 2015 9:36 pm

coolspot: Deal Expert; Oct 6, 2005; 16798 posts; 2464 upvotes

Jul 1st, 2015 9:36 pm

Messerschmitt wrote: ↑Do airlines not offer some refunds for deaths in the family?

My situation is that we booked through flighthub instead of BA directly, and we have already completed our journey. But if they still offer discounts for family death related travel, they should offer a refund if the flight already happened. I'm just not sure about the whole flighthub deal. Phone the CS of BA, they said to talk with flighthub since I booked with them. Phoned flighthub and their agent sounded totally clueless and he said there is no such thing, and kept mentioning that we could get a refund if the flight did not took place. He kept missing the point that the whole reason we flew was BECAUSE of the death in the family, not that our travel was interrupted because of our tragedy.

Bad idea to book through a crappy site like flight hub. As for deaths in the family, it's really at the discretion of the airline to offer a refund. I don't think there is an official policy. Even if you had travel insurance it may only cover immediate family and grandparents.

In terms of bereavement fare, I found it not to be much cheaper - it's best to hunt for your own fare.

Messerschmitt wrote: ↑ Thanks. I'l keep in mind. I actually did look at BA site as well before booking, but the ticket was roughly 700$ more expensive vs flight hub. 2200ish vs 1500ish. How much does one typically get from a bereavement fare?
I guess there is no point in pursuing this as i did not book with the airline directly.

Don't book through Flighthub - lots of bad reviews... I think bereavement fares are off the airlines "regular" Y-fare... so it is often not cheaper than a discount ticket you can find online.

Jul 1st, 2015 9:43 pm

Messerschmitt [OP]: Banned; Jul 17, 2008; 11042 posts; 3869 upvotes

Jul 1st, 2015 9:43 pm

Well, the cheapest ticket i found was through Flighthub. It might not have good reviews (and the 2 times I had to call CS I was not impressed/happy) but most of the time they do have the cheapest flight. Most of the time by a few hundred dollars.

Anyway thanks for the info. I always try to first book directly with the airlines, but when there is a difference of over few hundred dollars, I then look into discounted travel websites like flighthub (I actually use kayak, and through that flighthub comes up as the cheapest price)

Jul 1st, 2015 9:57 pm

TravelWithSteph: Newbie; Mar 8, 2015; 93 posts; 21 upvotes; Toronto, ON

Jul 1st, 2015 9:57 pm

Unfortunately I had a client deal with this last month. To get the bereavement fare they would have had to book directly with the airline and provide documentation (Drs note, death certificate, etc). The amount of savings was not huge...$200 on a $1700 flight.

+2

Jul 1st, 2015 11:51 pm

Messerschmitt [OP]: Banned; Jul 17, 2008; 11042 posts; 3869 upvotes

Jul 1st, 2015 11:51 pm

Thank you guys. So I guess I will move on since the flight was pretty much discounted (booking via BA compared to kayak->flighthub).

Jul 1st, 2015 11:55 pm

starchoice: Deal Addict; Oct 13, 2007; 4488 posts; 3399 upvotes; Edmonton

Jul 1st, 2015 11:55 pm

Messerschmitt wrote: ↑ How much does one typically get from a bereavement fare?

This is hard to answer because there is no bereavement fare schedule. You pretty well have to call the airline and ask regarding specific dates and then compare with what you find online. For sure, it varies airline to airline. I did this earlier this year and was quite pleasantly surprised with the airfare I was quoted and booked immediately.

+1

Jul 1st, 2015 11:57 pm

starchoice: Deal Addict; Oct 13, 2007; 4488 posts; 3399 upvotes; Edmonton

Jul 1st, 2015 11:57 pm

TravelWithSteph wrote: ↑To get the bereavement fare they would have had to book directly with the airline and provide documentation (Drs note, death certificate, etc). The amount of savings was not huge...$200 on a $1700 flight.

Policy will vary airline to airline. I have found that generally if you book a bereavement fare, it's quite easy to get a discounted fare simply by supplying all the details while if you are trying to get a partial reimbursement after the fact, they will require hard documentation.

Jul 2nd, 2015 7:58 am

BaconBaron: Sr. Member; May 7, 2015; 528 posts; 179 upvotes; Toronto, ON

Jul 2nd, 2015 7:58 am

In a nutshell: Any airline that offers a bereavement fare on a flight, it's usually a specific fare class (or set of fare classes), with a waived advance-purchase date to accommodate the last-minute nature of a bereavement fare. If the flight is really full, there might not be any seats left in that fare class to be sold, so no bereavement fare can be offered. If the flight is not very full, the current best available fare class may already be lower priced than the fare classes eligible for a bereavement fare, so there's no real discount to be offered. You will need to book it directly with an airline, as OTAs do not offer them, and any live travel agent will just be calling the airline anyway.

+1

Jul 2nd, 2015 8:14 am

coupondiva2012: Deal Addict; Dec 31, 2011; 2715 posts; 968 upvotes; Yellowknife

Jul 2nd, 2015 8:14 am

Happened to us one year. We were already flying to the States when a family member passed away. We booked a low air fare. The bereavement fare was much higher than what we got.

Sorry about your loss OP.

+1

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