Northwest Airlines, (NWA - bereavement issue)

Two weeks ago on 9/3/07 my uncle died suddenly and my dad needed to fly from

Montana to Chicago for the funeral. He called Northwest Airlines on

Wednesday because they were the only carrier at the time that had space on a

Sunday, which was the day he needed to fly back on. (All the other

airlines, United Express and Delta were full Thursday through Sunday). He

asked the flight agent about the bereavement policy and was told that they

would be able to get him on a flight on Sunday for $486 round trip. He was

told to obtain the funeral home's name, address and phone number and call

back and they would make the arrangements for him. My dad called back 30

minutes later with all of the information in hand, but this time the NWA

agent said that they had nothing and that he should and that he should call

back on Friday or Saturday to see if anything was available. He didn't want

to wait till the last minute and miss the funeral, so he told the agent that

the only thing that was left on a Sunday was a first class seat going to

Minnapolis and then onto Chicago. The agent told him that first class

didn't count for the bereavement policy and that he would have to just wait

and call back on Friday or Saturday.

My dad ended up just booking a flight on his own via NWA's website going

first class back to Chicago and economy class on the return trip on

Saturday, 9/15/07. The entire round trip cost him $1413. My complaint is

the fact that NWA led him to believe that the bereavement flight would only

cost him $486 round trip and in the end it cost him $1413. They wouldn't

even help him with the cost of the flight whether it was first class or not.

I checked the NWA website on Wednesday and at the time the only day that had

room on a flight was Sunday and first class was the only option. I don't

know what you will be able to do about this issue, but I wanted to make it

known that I don't believe NWA tried hard enough to get my dad back to

Chicago on one of their flights using their bereavement policy.

Here was the original flight confirmation number for the round trip that he

paid for with NWA should they ask for proof of the flight. MYD4O5

Thank you for your help in this matter,

Dave Dornberg

Email User

Comment On This

My Mom passed away this week. I found out that if I book the SAME Northwest flight online it is $200 LESS than if I get the bereavement 'discount' they have for world perks members. I asked why--it is a cancellable ticket. So if I decide to skip my Mom's funeral I can get my money back.

This is a discount????