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Tip 2: Bereavement Fares Are Not Always Your Best Option
In the past, requesting a bereavement fare was the cheapest way to secure a last-minute ticket for travel related to the death of a family member. But, like almost every other aspect of travel, this has changed.
Bereavement-fare tickets are completely refundable, and you can change them as many times as you wish without incurring any fees. But they might not be the cheapest option available to you. Depending on the route you need to fly, you might be able to find much cheaper last-minute flights on discount Web sites such as Expedia or Travelocity.
For example, a recent check found that a one-day-advance bereavement fare on Delta from New York to Tampa was $1,369 round trip, but Expedia was offering flights as low as $289 one-way for a comparable flight. Likewise, the bereavement fare from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles was $1,228, but Expedia was offering the same route for an amazingly low $318 round trip. (The Delta agent also offered a "restricted fare" that was much cheaper than the bereavement fare, but at $654 it was still more than twice as much as the best Web deal.)
If you are flying into or out of smaller, regional airports, however, the airline bereavement fares tend to be lower than anything offered online. For example, Delta's bereavement fare from Tallahassee, Florida, to St. Louis was $646, but the best fare I could find on a discount Web site was $780, making the bereavement fare the better deal by far. On a flight from Little Rock to Salt Lake City, US Airways was offering a bereavement fare of $444, while the best to be found on the Web was $640.
Bottom Line: It's not fun to think about, but it's best to know your emergency travel options before you need them, since you'll likely be occupied with other matters when the occasion arises. Spend a few minutes researching your favorite discount sites before accepting a bereavement fare offered by an airline.
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