mumbai while 2448hour advance purchase airfares typically target the corporate flyer theres another segment which is forced to buy these highly priced tickets those travelling to attend a funeral bereavement faresdiscounted fare offered to close kin flying to attend a funeralhave been around for decades in the us canada but now passengers in india faced with the recent spike in lastminute fares too are rooting for it a communitybased social media platform said it carried out an online survey recently in which 85 of the 10845 fliers said indian carriers should offer bereavement fares on thursday for instance the cheapest oneway fare for delhimumbai nonstop was rs 20000 in the survey carried out in aprilmay over 9000 flyers said that indian carriers should be mandated to offer bereavement fares so that the family members travelling for the funeral arent forced to pay exorbitant fares said sachin taparia founder localcircles which conducted the survey while governments of other countries havent mandated such fares airlines such as delta air canada alaska air voluntarily offer them as a social initiative a bereavement fare is typically a discount offered on the regular fare with flexible booking norms quantum of rebate and conditions to qualify vary from airline to airline the passenger calls up the airline reservation centre no online booking allowed gives details such as the name of the deceased name and phone number of the funeral director the relationship of the passenger with the deceased etc said an airline official with a usbased carrier requesting anonymity passengers opt for this facility when lastminute fares are high or seats arent available we put them on the priority list he said adding that the fare is subject to availability and offered only to their frequent flyer members other carriers have no such conditions and offer bereavement fares to all eligible passengers its generally a discount in the form of a partial refund the passenger calls up the airline provides the details needed finds out about the discount offered if they plan to go for this fare they pay the regular full fare fly to the destination attend the funeral and later apply for a discount after submitting the death certificate boarding pass and other documents united airlines and american airlines too offered these fares but they withdrew it about a decade ago stating that cheaper lastminute fares were readily available in the market