I have had to be away from my blog for the better part of the past week because of a family emergency that required me to travel from San Diego to New England. I was in the bad position of having to buy air lines tickets at very short notice. For those of you that have family living across the country, you may have the need to buy airline tickets at a very short notice, please pay attention. First off understand that the airlines could care less about your emergency, the truth is they increase their fares just so they can take advantage of those who need to attend a funeral or be with an ill relative, nice guys huh? Yes, you have heard of bereavement fares, I am here to tell you its a gimmick, they jack up the fare for short notice bookings then give you a small discount like 10% of that fare. To obtain that discount you will need to present a death certificate on your return trip, not something you really want to deal with under the circumstances. While there is little we can do when it comes to short-term booking here are a few ideas.
- Plan for the possibility that you may have to travel on short notice, set aside a little cash to buy that last-minute fare.
- If you know there is a possibility that you may have to travel, spend some time researching airline tickets, this is especially true if you do not travel by air often. Google around Expidia and other sites that sell airline tickets be familiar with how they work.
- Become aware of what days of the week are best to travel, if your schedule allows take advantage of these days.
As you can see our options are very limited, the airlines know that and are working full time to take full advantage of our problem. Fight back learn all you can so they do not have to be the winner all the time.
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Always seemed to me that last minute tickets should be cheaper as they should be trying to fill the plane. I guess they just know when they have you over the barrel. So much for service to the customer.