And they wonder ...

[ericcoleman]

Airlines wonder why they are losing money ... simple ... they give crap service.

I'm scrambling to find a fare I can afford to get to NC later this week. My grandmother is dying, probably in the next day or two. My mother is deep in chemo and can't fly with any real degree of safety to her health.

So I'm trying to get to NC so I can drive my mother to WV for the services. Neither of us are going to try to get there before. My grandmother is out and will be till the end, so she wouldnt be aware of us being there. My mother cannot skip chemo this week, more detail on that at a later date.

None of the airlines will give a bereavement fare. Well, one will but only one way. The attitude seems to be that they don't give the fare if the plane is anywhere near full ... dosn't that negate the idea of the bereavement fare ???

I may hit the road tomorrow afternoon.

One of the things that this means ...

My long fight to make it to Congenial seems to be lost. The money to do it appeared last week ... I informed them that it was going to happen, but now there is no chance ... I so needed that weekend ... just for the relaxation if nothing else

And the folks who run the festival in St Louis havent answered my email from last week ... so the next two (and last booked at this time till we find out what the money situation is, it may be months before another road trip) seem to both be in peril ... ok, the St Louis probably isn't, but I am in alarmist mode at the moment.

So how is your day ???

edit

It looks like flying Southwestern out of Omaha is less than any of the special fares I have seen. So that looks like what I am going to do.

Comments

[hardly-angelic.livejournal.com]

Truly sorry to hear of your grandmother's imminent demise, and of your mother's health problems.

I hope that your travel issues are resolved qickly and painlessly.

[hardly-angelic.livejournal.com]

*quickly, too.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Aw, man. Hugs and sympathy for your and your family, and good luck with the frickin' airlines. Jerks.

[pixelene.livejournal.com]

Maybe take the one way fare (if that's all you can get) and rent a car for the other way, and for the time while you're there. I'm told renting cars can be pretty cheap.

*HUGS*

[ericcoleman]

I can pay the full fare ... don't have a problem with that. It's just bad business ... and renting a car to return to Iowa would cost me something like 3 times as much once everything is done ... it's a 2-3 day trip depending on how I do it.

[spiritdancer]

Where in WV are you headed? IOW, there's crash space at our place if you need it either direction.

Email me at my account here at LJ if you need it.

*hugs*
_M_

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

Wow does that suck. I really wish I could offer something concretely useful. All I can come up with is my sympathy, and it feels so inadequate. *HUG*

[ericcoleman]

Clendenin just outside of Charleston ... heading there from the south ...

[bammba-m.livejournal.com]

*HUGS* And all my well-wishes.

[ravenclaw-eric.livejournal.com]

Man, that's bad. Des Moines is famously crap to fly out of, price-wise...these last few times, I've flown from KC or MSP.

The airlines these days are about as much fun as a Greyhound bus; about the only thing to say for them is that they do get you there fast.

[libra-dragon.livejournal.com]

((HUGS))) I am sorry to hear about your grandmother.

[spiritdancer]

For what it's worth, our place is in the opposite direction (roughly where I-77 crosses into Ohio) ::sigh::

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

Oh man, what a stressful week it will be for you. Take care of yourself, and your mom.

Googling took me to a USA Today article from a year ago, noting that a bunch of airlines had discontinued their bereavement fares. The spin was that pricing was getting simpler, and the special fares didn't give much of an actual price break. It sure happened under my radar, though.

[ericcoleman]

I was thinking that was the case ... woulda been nice to see you and the little one

[darkwing830.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear about your Grandmother. I can realte to your mother being on chemo and I truly sympathise (my father). If there is anything in my power to do just ask.

The airlines seem to no longer get the idea of customer service...sigh.

You'll be missed at Congenial.

[xap]

*huggs* i'm so sorry :( Safe travels, our thoughts will be with you and yours.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Sympathies about your grandmother and mother. Yeah, airlines are losing money and seem to blame their customers more than bad management.

[barbarakitten-t.livejournal.com]

my thoughts are with you and your family...

*hug*

[jmthane.livejournal.com]

Well, poop. Sorry you won't be at ConGenial, although "death in the family" is one of the best (worst?) reasons I can think of. My deepest condolences, as I know pretty well how it feels. (I have one grandfather left - the other three grandparents have long since passed.)

And just as a side note - we Minstrosi-musicians fly Southwest pretty much anywhere we need to fly to. We get good fares (it pays to watch for the sales, too), we have no problems getting on the planes (including the dulcimer), we get seats, we get treated to good crews and reasonably on-time service (usually), and when we got off the plane, all our stuff is there with us. Some people say the seating is a cattle call. Who cares? It gets us where we're going, and inexpensively. It doesn't surprise me in the least that they've got a better fare than anyone else.

But WTF is that with the bereavement fares? Jeez. The last grandparent who died, I got a bereavement fare no problem, just had to get the funeral home to sign a document verifying the death. The airline industry has gotten weird...

[ericcoleman]

I wonder if I can get a guitar onboard as carry on ... probably not ...

I was really looking forward to seeing you folks play ... I've never had the chance before for some reason or another ...

and yeah ... this is the last grandparent ... still ... she had a better ride than most of us ...

[jmthane.livejournal.com]

The guitar you might get on, I can't say for sure. I know John sends his through checked baggage, but the guitar he plays has been all over the place, including to Ireland (note: unlike the rest of us...), and AFAIK, it's always been checked, so it has a good enough case.

The dulcimer, on the other hand... The one time we had to fly someone besides Southwest (AirTran, for the record), they tried to not even take it as baggage, claiming it was too big and heavy. (At the time, the weight limit was 70 pounds, size restrictions are what they are today.) It was in a flight case of my own handiwork that, when packed with the instrument, came in at 67 pounds. It was oversize - silly me insisting on playing a large dulcimer - but not in their "can't carry it" range of oversize. Southwest has never given me a problem. But the dulcimer - the only way I could carry it on is to buy it a seat.

A guitar, however, can possibly go in the overhead bin. So I would suggest having it in a hardshell, but see if they'll let you carry it on as it's a musical instrument.

There'll be chances in the future to meet. For instance, we're booked at Amana Colonies Ren Faire Ren Faire over Labor Day weekend. That's at least the right state for you. :-) (Yes, they're still doing a Faire that weekend. They've got a producer in to replace Greg Schmidt's Faire, which has moved to Des Moines. We've worked with Rob Welch before, and were happy to accept when he offered the gig.)

We always enjoy meeting other musicians, and we were looking forward to a jam session or two ourselves. (And a few shots of scotch and other downtime stuffs...)

And - Yay, Grandma! *grin* A good ride is always important.

[ericcoleman]

Greg's faire is just a little migratory ...

I have two guitars, the Martin, who does not travel ... and Prince Tisanne, who I am certain to need the following weekend, and has a case that is not really plane-worthy ...

I'm going to see if my mom knows anyone I can borrow from for the weekend ... I need to play

[khadagan.livejournal.com]

St. Louis is DEFINITELY still on. Unfortunately, the person who was supposed to be working the web site....didn't. And doubly unfortunately, Dawn Marie has been run ragged the last two weeks with committe meetings and school mid-terms. We're looking forward to seeing you at Spirit, really we are :)
Hugs -- K