This is to the airline. You advertise on your website “bereavement ” discounts and how understanding your company is when death occurs and that you make it easy to book. So I call. You tell me that the price to Manila from Halifax return with bereavement is over $2400.00. That is more than the regular online fare of $1808.00. I ask “how can that be?” You say that the difference is that the bereavement ticket can be changed without surcharge. The change fee is only $150.00!!! Supposing I changed the dates it would still be $450.00 less than your bereavement ticket and booking with you on the phone! WTF kind of bereavement discount is that? No wonder everybody hates you. Besides losing baggage, miserable flight attendants, booking agents, overbooking, ect. Your company sucks bleached ass. Suck it. —Disappointed and Grieving
This article appears in Oct 17-23, 2013.
So you buy the other ticket. Problem solved. You’re welcome!
Problem not solved. That’s the whole point. The regular fare is over $1800.00. They offer bereavement discount fares ONLINE. We don’t have enough to pay $1800.00 online price. Then doing what they ask by calling them to book bereavement ticket. A person finds the ticket, does all the work getting the information they need and paperwork, wait 45 minutes on hold, to then be told it is more expensive than booking online. That is just stupid, not being totally honest and at the very best… misleading the public. Also kinda cruel for grieving persons.
Your logics seems off. If the bereavement price is $2,400 and the web price is $1,800, you are indeed saving $600.
If you “don’t have enough…” to cover the $1,800 web ticket, that’s no one’s fault.
I imagine the web price was a special one, ergo it was cheaper.
Yes, calling an airline means waiting – a long time. They don’t know you have experienced a death the family and therefore couldn’t have bumped you up in the phone line queue. And even then, the web price still would’ve been cheaper.
Yes, airlines suck ass – al of them do and all of them make money of those of us who have to travel for bereavement reasons.
it sounds asinine but as someone who worked in data mining of social media i PROMISE they’ll notice it if you TWEET about it.
Twitter is a huge social platform that large companies mine (automated mining) to weed out both satisfied and unsatisfied customers and immediately try to silence the negative reviews. On Twitter, you have the upper hand, moreso if you have a lot of followers.
Yes it’s ridiculous. Welcome to the future.
Math is not necessarily an airline’s strength (oh I have 176 seats so let’s sell 185 tickets for the flight).
I empathize with you as people who don’t have access to the interwebs could get roasted if they call the airline directly.
So sorry for the passing of someone close to you. Wishing you luck on your voyage.
I read on “canada carrier” the flollowing:
In many instances, a lower-priced fare may be found by shopping online at *******.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.
One of the requirements is the travel needs to commence within 7 days …. booking on such short notice is $$$ so in essence you are being given a break. The bereavement only applies to **select itineraries**
What this fare provides is a guaranteed seat and not a discounted fare … the point is to get you to your destination. Also, one is required to submit a death certificate and/or letter from physician etc.
Just a thought, but was the cost you found online calculated before taxes, fees and the fuel surcharge?
That bites a lot of people in the ass when planning that “cheap” flight.
i work for an airline, not a Canadian one, just to make that clear…but our bereavement fares are basically waiving the advance purchase requirement if there is one. sometimes its a lower fare, sometimes it isn’t. depends a lot on availability. and we do not require a death cert or physician statement.
Anyways… Air Canada… you mo fo’s can suck it!!!
OB wants a ticket to manila for $299 because $1800 is clearly a rip off. Tsk tsk.