John Murray

Do any airlines other that Continental offer compassion fare discounts?

I need to get back to Scotland for a funeral - prices are horrible at this time of year.

What are the prices like? Fares online are at least $1000 or more.

Are spouses included?

Anyone with any info on this????

Thanks.

fatbrit

Use www.kayak.com. Got $570 (inc.) for Continental from Houston to Glasgow on 1/15 returning 1/22.

TruBrit

Hi John, sorry about the sad news but do try BA..they used to offer compassionate discounts and may still do, good luck

NC Penguin

What airlines could you use to get to Scotland? Might be faster to ring Customer Service for those airlines to ask about compassion fares. Explain your situation and later, ask about your spouse.


NC Penguin

TruBrit

BA are very good with genuine cases like this...they'll hopefully make your connection through LGW/LHR as quick as poss.

clydegirl

Continental are good in that they fly direct from Newark to Glasgow.

I had to get home quickly last Feb as my dad was ill.Instead of booking on line I went to a travel agent and they got me St.Louis to Glasgow return for $800.It's a quick flight from Newark.

Patrick

Call all the airlines because they are supposed to keep x amount of seats for compassionate reasons, they dont obviously because it would cut into the bottom line

cindyabs

The Compassionate or Bereavement fares aren't always the cheapest way to go, but they do allow you to buy a coach fare as a roundtrip for the one way price. Usually it does extend to spouses (in my experience as an agent), but of course it is also restricted to immediate family not for second cousins etc.
My sympathy for the circumstances.

John Murray

Thanks to all.

Continental quoted $700 on the phone, then jacked it up to $1500 when my wife called back with the details required to book it. :scared: Something about not giving 3 days notice ...

I searched around online and got a fantastic deal with Fly Eurpoe - around the same price as Continental originally quoted me for the Compassion rate - but this was just a standard fare with British Airways, and flying from Houston to Gatwick and then up to Scotland instead of going through Newark if I went with Continental.

The price quoted for the same flight on the BA website was $2,500 - So I didn't even call them to ask about compassion fares, just booked with Fly Europe.

We used to love Continental - but I'll be ripping up my Onepass and going with the cheapest option from Fly Europe for any flights back home in future (hopefully for a nice visit instead of a funeral)

If you've not got Fly Eurpoe bookmarked - I'd go ahead and do it now!

Fatbrit - I did try Kayak they were a bit more expensive, but a good alternative webiste to check next time - I've bookmarked ir for future reference.

fatbrit

Kayak's the sort of Google of travel. I always use it for a ballpark figure. No idea how they make their money as they are not like the Orbitz/Travelocity ones at all since they aren't agents.

cindyabs

No offense but PLEASE don't classify travel agents in the same category as Orbitz and Travelocity. A website is NOT the same as going to a store front, or failing that conversing by phone or email to the same person the majority of the time.

fatbrit

Apologies, indeed! I miss good, old travel agents. They're a dying breed, unfortunately. Never had much success with them in the US, though, I'm afraid.

But I don't know how to classify Kayak. They don't actually sell flights/hotels/car rental etc but rather search a ton of sites to find them a bit like Froogle.

cindyabs

Apologie accepted, . I have been in the business for over 20 years, both in Europe and here in the US and you're right-we are a dying breed. It has been a survival of the fittest test the last couple of years. Online travel HAS hurt us, but there are still a few things in our bag of tricks we can do to help a client out that a website can not do. A complicated itinerary still seems to be better handled by a "real" person than a computer on it's own.
I would think that Kayak would get paid to list the sites, or at least for providing links as a means of getting to them?

Elvira

How very true! I travel a fair amount on business, almost invariably multi-destination, and I like to mix my pleb legs (aka Coach) with 1st class - something that websites for some reason seem unable to deliver. So I usually check out Expedia and then ring United. They always match the basic Expedia price, and then I'm able to add in my 1st class legs and complimentary upgrades.

HOWEVER, the problem I have been having recently is that, at least half the time, I have to deal with someone in India. And even though their English is reasonably fluent, it can be a struggle to explain what I want. On my last trip I discovered, very late in the day, that I had been booked on a different return flight from the one I had asked for (and for which I had already had a provisional reservation).

The ladies at United who I have spoken to recently all say that this farming-out to India is increasing, and things will only get worse...

cindyabs

Delta is doing the same and USAir seems to be using folks in Latin America to staff their reservations. Our reservations system we use for all airlines has now rerouted their Help Desk from Atlanta to India.
It's a challenge.