Bereavement fares have disappeared on most US airlines

Airlines used to give discounts to passengers who were traveling to a relative's funeral, but those days are just about gone. Now buying a ticket to attend a funeral or visit a relative in the hospital is no different than last-minute travel plans for any other reason. Among the largest US airlines, only Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines still offer so-called bereavement fares. Airlines believed people were scamming the system, and the special fares complicated the jobs of reservations agents. Grieving travellers were put off by the need for documentation like a death certificate. But the biggest cause of the bereavement fare's demise may be the growth of low-fare carriers. "As low-fare carriers came into more markets, those bereavement fares ended up being higher than you could get elsewhere," said one industry watcher. <br/>