Compassionate Airfares: Barely Worth the Hassle

Airlines tend to increase their ticket prices close to the departure date. They do this because they know people booking at short notice are more likely to be either business travellers or desperate to travel – and therefore less price-sensitive.

While this makes sense, it also has the unfortunate effect of screwing over people who urgently need to travel to see seriously ill relatives, attend funerals or deal with sudden medical emergencies.

This is why some airlines offer compassionate fares, also known as bereavement airfares. These may come with discounts or increased flexibility for people who need to travel imminently, for example, due to the death of a family member.

Many years ago, these were widely available and the discounts were substantial. Nowadays, unfortunately, there aren’t that many airlines that offer these. And even if you can get a compassionate airfare, it might not be worth the hassle any more.

Which airlines offer compassionate fares?

It’s difficult to find much information about compassionate or bereavement airfares, as many airlines either don’t offer or don’t publicise them. But here’s what we do know…

Qantas

Qantas is the only major Australian airline with a clearly defined compassionate airfare policy. Qantas offers a 10% discount on fares for compassionate travel on Qantas domestic and international flights. These are available to passengers impacted by extenuating circumstances such as a death, grave illness, natural disaster, major trauma or a requirement to travel for medical reasons.

With Qantas’ bereavement fares, the first flight departure must be within 7 days of booking. Customers must provide supporting documentation.

Virgin Australia

Virgin Australia does not have a compassionate airfare program.

The airline says that requests for travel support on compassionate grounds can be directed through its Sponsorship & Donations request form. However, this form isn’t really designed for requesting compassionate airfares, and Virgin Australia usually takes 4-6 weeks to respond to these requests – hardly helpful if you need to fly tomorrow.

Jetstar

Jetstar does not offer a formal compassionate fare program. As a low-cost carrier, it aims to keep its everyday fares low instead.

Rex Airlines

Although Rex does not publicise a formal compassionate airfare program, some Rex customers have reported that the call centre staff did assist them with discounted last-minute bereavement fares when they needed to travel for a funeral.

Rex does also offer Community Fares on specific routes, such as Perth-Albany and Cairns-Mount Isa. The Aussie regional airline makes all remaining seats on these routes available at the Community Fare prices within 24 hours of departure.

Bereavement fares on overseas airlines

There are still a few large overseas airlines that publicly offer compassionate airfares. These include:

• Air New Zealand (domestic flights only)
• Philippine Airlines
• Delta Air Lines
• Air Canada
• WestJet
• Alaska Airlines
• Hawaiian Airlines (inter-island flights only)

The Air New Zealand and Hawaiian Airlines policies offer fixed prices on short-haul flights. These prices seem reasonable in cases where the commercially available fares are very high at the last minute. But you might be able to find a cheaper price without using a bereavement fare.

Some airlines, such as Air Canada, make the process a little easier by requesting supporting documentation after you fly on the bereavement fare, so you don’t have to worry about it when you’re scrambling to travel. The trade-off is that you’ll likely be charged the difference between a regular fare and the fare you paid if you don’t submit the documents on time.

If you need to fly with another airline, it might still be worth calling the airline directly (or talking to your travel agent). Even if the airline doesn’t have a published bereavement fare policy, the contact centre staff might still have some discretion to help you. But, to be honest, I would go into the call with low expectations.

How to book a compassionate airfare

Of the airlines that offer compassionate or bereavement fares, most require you to book over the phone or with a travel agent. These aren’t typically available to book directly on the airline’s website.

These fares usually have a few conditions attached. The main ones are that you need to fly within a certain, limited time period after booking.

Documentation you might need to provide

Most airlines also require proof that you qualify for a discount on a compassionate basis. Examples of supporting documentation could include:

• Death certificate
• Funeral parlour notice
• Medical certificate
• An email or signed letter from the family member’s doctor or hospital
• Proof of relationship to deceased/unwell person (e.g. birth certificate, marriage certificate, etc.)

Changing or cancelling existing flights for compassionate reasons

While most airlines no longer offer official bereavement fares, many will waive change or cancellation fees if you need to delay or cancel a trip due to extenuating circumstances. For example, if you need to cut a holiday short to attend to a dying relative, or stay longer at your destination to deal with an emergency.

In general, unless your airline has a formal policy for this, the best course of action is to call your airline and explain the situation. They may be able to waive any change or cancellation fees, although some will still charge any fare difference.

If your booking is with Singapore Airlines, you can also request a change or cancellation for compassionate reasons using their online form.

Is it worth trying to book a compassionate fare?

While compassionate fares may give you a small discount, there probably aren’t many instances where it would make sense these days to book one of these.

Last-minute airfares are often very expensive. So even with a 10% discount, you’re probably still going to pay a lot for your ticket. And then there’s the added hassle of having to book over the phone and send supporting documentation to the airline.

Rather than trying to book a bereavement airfare with one of the few airlines that offer them, you might be better off shopping around and looking for a cheaper airfare on another airline.

If you have frequent flyer points, consider using them to book last-minute travel instead. Many airlines still offer fixed-price reward seats.

Plus, airlines nowadays often release more reward seats within a few days or weeks of departure. Some airlines even release extra premium cabin seats within 1-2 days of departure. This timeline is a pain for people who want to plan their holidays in advance, but it could work in your favour if you need to travel imminently.