berevement fare

[fasth]

Can anyone tell me about bereavement fares? How does it work. Anyone used it before?
Need a flight from Calgary to Toronto next weekend,either Thurs, Fri, or early am Sat. Been checking prices and due to March break they are abnormally high.
Suggestions?

[airmail]

Bereavement Fares


Air Canada provides reduced bereavement fares for those who need to fly due to the death or imminent death (e.g., the patient is in intensive care, has suffered a heart attack, is in the final stages of cancer, has been in a serious accident, etc.) of an immediate family member.

Please note that special bereavement fares represent a fixed discount off specific, unrestricted, full fares on certain international routes only, and that no other discount may be applied. Bereavement fares are available only for round-trip bookings on flights operated by Air Canada and Jazz.

In many instances, a lower-priced fare may be found by shopping online at aircanada.com. Bereavement fares are intended to provide maximum flexibility for passengers who must travel during a time of family emergency but are not necessarily the lowest fares available.

Bereavement Fares are not offered for:
travel within Canada
travel to and from the U.S.
travel to and from Hong Kong
How to reserve
Family members can book Bereavement Fares by calling Air Canada Reservations. Please provide the name of the family member, telephone number, and address of the hospital, attending physician, or funeral home and funeral date. Please give the Air Canada Agent the reference number CIC*160/33, or ACP #671717

To receive Bereavement Fares at the airport counter, before you fly, family members are required to present a copy of the death certificate or a letter from the attending physician clearly defining the imminent death of the family member. If this is not possible, they can apply for a Bereavement Travel Refund after travel is complete. Maximum stay permitted 30 days.

Refunds after travel is completed
When applying for a refund, please submit a completed Compassionate Travel Form (available from an Air Canada ticket counter at the airport), a copy of the Death Certificate or Funeral Director's Statement, original boarding passes and original passenger tickets.

Refund applications must be made within 90 days of bereavement; you can make your application in person at any Air Canada or Air Canada Jazz ticket counter, or by mail to:
Air Canada, Refund Services, P.O. Box 6475,
Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3C 3V2.

Eligibility
Travellers eligible for Air Canada Bereavement Fares are the deceased's: spouse (includes common law as well as same sex partners), child (includes adopted / step / grand / great grand), parent (includes step / grand / great grand / in-law / common law in-law), daughter, son, father, mother (includes legal / in-law / common law in-law), brother, sister (includes step / half / in-law / common law in-law), aunt, uncle, niece, nephew (includes those of spouse and common law spouse), legal guardian (with proof of judgement) and spouse of legal guardian.

*All above include in-laws of same sex partner.

[fasth]

Thanks for your help and snide remark. Due to a death in the family I did not want to wade though the mounds of info that usually accompanies google searches.

[fruchick]

Bereavement Fares are not offered for:
travel within Canada
travel to and from the U.S.
travel to and from Hong Kong


This strikes me odd.

[twotterdhc6]

Bereavement fares not offered for intra-continental flights sort of makes sense, but why single out Hong Kong as the only international destination that is not applicable? I wonder if they had a lot of fraudulent claims in the past...

[starchoice]

This was in the news some time ago now. Air Canada (don't remember about other airlines) abolished bereavement fares. I see that they still have them in some form based on the earlier post but I think the controversy was regarding North America.

Regardless, I think fares became somewhat deregulated. My wife needed a flight from Edmonton to Montreal many years ago and the bereavement fare was a discount over the full price economy. It still costed an arm and a leg. You can probably do better now anyways by finding a low fare online.

[luvshopping]

Too bad some people are rude.

No need for the comments!!

Don't answer dude...

Maybe the person is going through enough already


I have a name for you but I won't say it :cheesygri

[Rehan]

Air Canada got rid of bereavement fares for domestic travel several years ago.

Westjet still offers them, though. Check out https://c5dsp.westjet.com/agentfrench/travelTips.jsp#faredetails

[ShopperfiendTO]

Bereavement fares, at least for travel between major cities, is really a last resort. Unless you have to fly out *that* day, chances are that the current "sale" fare will be lower.

As previously mentioned, the bereavement fare is calculated on full-price economy, not on what's the lowest available fare at the time of booking.

[HSK]

Within Canada? Just grab your backpack and head to the airport. I think you'll be better off asking for a last minute ticket.

Good luck and sorry about the loss.