I got the dreaded call from the doctor, it’s time to go back and see my mom one last time. Of course it’s Obon so flights are ridiculous. Air Canada offered me a special bereavement fare. ¥733000. One way.
Luckily it looks like I have a few days and I just so happen to have a flight booked to a different North American destination for a planned holiday next week. I call American airlines and tell them I want to use the first part of my ticket (Japan to LA) and the last part of my ticket to come home, but I don’t need the second leg ( a domestic flight). No date changes or anything, just not to use a portion of the total. They say that with documentation from the hospital (which I have), it’s fine. But that I have to pay them an extra $600US for the privilege of not using a flight. WTF
I could just not board the second leg of the flight but then I’d be blacklisted and lose my return flight.
And they ended this crazy conversation with “I’m sorry, have a nice day!” Fuckers.
27 comments
And the quality of those flights are so much worse than Japanese airlines.
That’s almost $7000!😮 Just for one way that’s insane. Is this going to YVR? When I left on an emergency this year, I found a last minute seat with ANA and it came down to $1300 one way from YVR. I’m really sorry to hear about your Mom OP. Hugs.
This is one of my biggest fears. I’m sorry you have to go through this.
I dunno where in Canada you’re flying to but I’ve just found round trip flights leaving tomorrow from Tokyo to Toronto for under 400,000 on sky scanner.
*the flight there was direct even!
Canada and Japan seem to have horrible commuter relations.out of any airport that isn’t Vancouver specifically.
Your best best if you have extra days under better circumstances is to get to Vancouver domestically, via a daybus, domestic flight, etc. And from Vancouver, catch a budget commuter flight associated with overseas commerce hubs like Singapore, SFO, San Jose, etc.
A summer direct to Calgary cost my wife 400,000 yen and that was with it fluctuating for several months from about that 400,000 to as high as 1,100,000.
I told my wife if the Canadian family want to see us, they can meet us halfway in California, where my family is at, from now on. It’s not feasible.
That’s nuts. I bought tickets in Feb/March for this week departure and it was 200,000 one way.
At least my flight back was only 90,000.
When this happened to me, I did Zip Air and Spirit. It was fine. Cheaper than the big airlines. Really work Sky Scanner and see what can be done.
Why fly direct? Fuck air Canada. You have no guarantee that you will even fly with all the cancellations they do these days. Fly with another carrier I.e Korean, Cathay, etc… yeah it’s not direct but way way cheaper.
This is business class right?
Another option is to buy miles with united airlines and purchase a ticket with miles through United’s site. It might work out cheaper.
I was looking at flights recently. Around ¥171,000 round trip on delta.
Nothing like the 733000 flight you mention. Even more expensive flights aren’t that much.
Did you even look at other airlines. A flight you don’t need (the domestic) flight is a waste of money.
Honestly it sounds like air canada is scamming you when you are clearly in distress and urgently need to return home. Insane fare and unnecessary legs added to trip.
Similar when my mom passed – I ended up flying to Seattle via Portland, then renting a car and driving to Vancouver. Saved 300K that way.
Can you just book a separate ticket from your vacation destination to Toronto so that you don’t have to change the destination of the AA ticket?
Ha, as if they didn’t already have someone double booked for your seat for that flight! Get fucked airlines!
My condolences, had to do the same a few years back. So do consider this is obon, and also peak travel to /
from Japan for summer holidays for most of the world. It’s a crap situation but most US fares are 120%+ what they normally have been. Airlines are gouging Japan routes and it sucks.
Don’t do one way fares. Most airlines now let you reschedule for free, so do a round trip and book the return leg 45+ days out.
Try Skiplagged as well, though the last time I checked it for a flight this year, it wasn’t much different from Skyscanner and had massive layovers. Worth checking anyway, I feel ya.
I forgot the name of it, but airlines in America prohibit not using part of your booked flight (usually the last leg though) because it’s some travel hack that screws people over. Obviously not in your case for that rate, but it may be falling under the same flag in their system.
I feel you there – had to catch basically the next flight to North America some months back for bereavement purposes and ANA wanted 700k for the privilege. Return, but economy for that when a relative is imminently dying….
Ended up finding a bit cheaper in business on a different route on a different airline (and made it in time) but it sure left a bad taste in my mouth
Sign up for Hopper, a travel app. You can find some good deals on it. I’m so sorry you’re going through this right now. Sending you positive vibes.
I recall I had to attend a funeral, the airline wanted me to fax over the death certificate before giving me the prices.
Okay so I call a different airline for bereavement prices, they oblige. The tickets ended up being 1.5x more than just going on google flights and booking the flights myself…..
You cant tell them you’re using a skip lagging or they wont allow it. However you could book a return with a different carrier. I’m very sorry to hear this and it sucks that they’d try to take advantage of you during this time.
Jesus Christ, that’s ridiculous. I’m sorry to hear about your mom, OP.
This summer has been crazy for ticket prices. I gave up after trying to get something reasonable.
Don’t call airlines asking for bereavement prices. They actually end up being more expensive these days than just buying a ticket yourself
My condolences. 😔
AC seems to be offering you something more like the same day purchase “normal price” airline ticket than any kind of bereavement fare.
I avoid them as much as possible unless I am planning a multi-stop itinerary in Canada, where they are often the only option – and still often cheaper than booking multiple flights on different airlines.
One way flights are -not- cheaper than round-trips, and sometimes way more expensive (and not half the price)
Bro Air Canada has fucked me hard multiple times this year. Then I found out theyve been fucking everyone hard for years. More than other airlines which are all fuckers.
It’s unbelievably frustrating and garbage that we have no power at all.
Seriously no one use air canada it is worth the extra price to fly with someone else. They double printed my middle name on my ticket (and no where else on the purchase process) and cause I didnt catch it in the first 24 hours I ended up paying 600$ (they tried to make me pay 1800 saying thatw as the only option) to cancel and book a new flight with my proper name. What a load of shit. Not to mention cancellations and delays everywhere.
I couldn’t board an Airzip flight because I caught covid. They wanted to charge me some money to cancel the flight (and I wouldn’t get a refund anyway, they confirmed in chat). So I just didn’t show up, which is absolutely worse for everyone involved but wasn’t about to pay extra to give them an available seat AND not being able to catch the flight.