Can anybody give me an idea about which is the most economical way to get back to England asap.
My Mum has been diagnosed with throat cancer in the last couple of weeks and is currently being fed through a tube through her nose. An anaesthetist is coming in anytime in the next couple of days to see if she is capable of having a general anaesthetic so that she can have tube fitted to her stomach as she cannot swallow any food or drink. If she can't have the tube fitted she will go pretty quickly, if she can she'll be ok for a while. She also suffers from dementia so is not able to make any decisions for herself.
I simply couldn't afford to fly home but the boss at the firm my wife works for have offered me the money to fly home this morning. I've never even met the guy, what a fantastic gesture.
Anyway I don't know whether to try and get a flight from Toronto, compassionate or normal price with Air Transat or whether it would be cheaper to drive to Buffalo tomorrow, get a flight to New York and see if there's a bucket shop there. I haven't checked the flights yet, next job.
Any advice would be welcome.

No direct advice, but recommend the ITA Matrix flight search tool: http://matrix.itasoftware.com/search.htm

Plugging in travel tommorrow, return 2 weeks later I get $1117 with air transat direct. Fares from Buffalo come out slightly higher but if you can get to New York then Virgin can get you back to London for $888 return.

Best of luck.

Take the closest departure point, way less stressful. Hang the cost, you can always pay that back, you cannot get back lost time.

http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelin...reavement.html

Thanks for the advice AE.
I've just arranged a compassionate flight with Air Canada. The girl at the call centre couldn't have been more helpful to be honest. She just asked for the names of the doctor and nurse in charge and the address of the hospital. I choked a couple of times as well, she was very understanding, the flight was $1047 and I think that was very reasonable.

Yes, you're right of course, all done now, thanks.

So sorry to hear about your mum.

What a fantastic boss your wife has - and great that AC helped out too.

Sorry to read all that about your Mum, hope you get home to her soon without any issues.

I didn`t take the AC flight, it was $1407, which I still think was ok at short notice. Air Transat tomorrow evening is $1157 but that flies in to Gatwick not Heathrow like AC. My Mum is down in Eastbourne so its more convenient for me.
I don`t get the chance to change the departure date without a penalty like AC allow but realistically I can`t stop more than a week anyway.
Thanks Supermum

so sorry.....