Compassionate Travel

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For Difficult Times

In the event of a death in your immediate family, an unexpected critical medical situation, or the need to visit an immediate family member receiving treatment as an in-patient in a hospital, you may find that you need to arrange urgent air travel at short notice, and thus do not have the time to qualify for an advance purchase discounted fare.

The following information explains when Loganair can offer assistance for new ticket purchases on Loganair services – known as Compassionate Fares – or changes to existing bookings on Loganair services – known as Compassionate Flexibility.

In each case we require documentation to support that your request for Compassionate Fares or Compassionate Flexibility relates to an immediate family member and a recent bereavement, an unexpected critical medical situation, or said member undergoing in-patient treatment in hospital.
Please note approval for compassionate consideration is at the sole discretion of Loganair and that prior approval is required – unfortunately retrospective applications cannot be considered.

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FAQs

  • Compassionate fares are 50% discounted from the fully flexible fare “Fly Flex +”, a discount applied to the total fare price (i.e also inclusive of taxes).

    Travel covered under critical medical situations must commence within 48 hours, and within seven days of booking if travelling for bereavement, or visiting an in-patient.

    Partner airline operated routes - Compassionate Fares are only available on services operated by Loganair Ltd. Any flights operated by an interline or codeshare partner are not eligible. This is beyond Loganair’s control as it cannot implement discounts for tickets on other airlines.

  • Definition of “Immediate Family” 
    The following people are considered immediate family:

    Bereavement: The spouse, de facto partner, parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, of the deceased. The list includes any same sex / adopted / great / half / step / in-law version of the list. The definition extends to a member of the clergy or their equivalent minister of religion who will be presiding over the funeral.

    Unexpected and critical medical situation: In addition to the person who has suffered the unexpected and critical medical situation, their spouse, de facto partner, parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, of the person in a critical condition. The list includes any same sex /adopted / great / half / step / in-law version of the list.

    In-Patient receiving treatment: The spouse, de facto partner, parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, of the patient. The list includes any same sex / adopted / great / half / step / in-law version of the list.

  • Compassionate Fares apply for travel on Loganair services only. Compassionate Flexibility applies to existing bookings on Loganair services only.

    To be eligible for Compassionate Fares and Compassionate Flexibility, Loganair will consider an event of recent bereavement to an Immediate Family member, an Immediate Family member experiencing a recent, unexpected critical medical situation, or an Immediate Family member attending a hospital or hospice as an in-patient. Each of these is described in more detail below.

    Bereavement

    Loganair may offer Compassionate Fares or Compassionate Flexibility allowing you to travel on Loganair services, or defer any existing bookings that you may have with Loganair in order to attend a funeral of an immediate family member as defined above:

    • Travel on a Compassionate Fare must commence within 7 days of booking and follow the recent bereavement of an Immediate Family member (within the last 7 days.)
    • We understand changes may be necessary for compassionate travel and have included one change free of charge, subject to seat availability, as part of the Compassionate Fare offering.
    • In cases where the remains of the deceased have been held for the purposes of a post-mortem or investigation by the Police, Procurator Fiscal (in Scotland) or the Coroner (in England & Wales) a letter or evidence of such an investigation will also be required in order to waive the requirement for the flights and funeral to be within 7 days of the date of death. Where an individual has donated their body for scientific research or experimentation, a letter from the appropriate school/university/approved centre shall also serve to waive the aforementioned requirement.

    Unexpected and Critical Medical situation

    Loganair may offer Compassionate Fares or Compassionate Flexibility allowing you to travel on Loganair services, or defer any existing bookings that you may have with Loganair.

    To visit or support an Immediate Family member who is unexpectedly in a critical medical situation that is considered by medical practitioners to be immediately life threatening. A critical medical situation is defined as:

    • Immediately life threatening, whereby the patient’s vital signs are unstable and likely to rapidly deteriorate.
      The patient has had a significant medical event such as a heart attack or stroke.
      Pre-existing and long-term conditions are only covered by this policy in the event that the condition has deteriorated to a critical, immediately life threatening medical situation.

    Travel on a Compassionate Fare must commence within 48 hours of booking. We understand changes may be necessary for compassionate travel and have included one change free of charge, subject to seat availability, as part of the Compassionate Fare offering.

    In-patient in a hospital or hospice

    Loganair may offer Compassionate Fares or Compassionate Flexibility allowing you to travel on Loganair services:

    • To visit or support an Immediate Family member who is attending a hospital or hospice as an in-patient.

  • Suppose you wish to be considered for a Compassionate Fare or Compassionate Flexibility. In that case, you must provide documentation confirming that a member of your Immediate Family has passed away, is in an unexpected critical medical situation, or is in the hospital as an in-patient.

    Supporting documentation must show the direct family link. This may be a difficult time for you, and providing paperwork might be the last thing on your mind.

     

    To proceed, please get in touch with the Loganair Help Centre via this online form.

    Or contact your travel agent who is booking for you if this is the case for you.

     

    Bereavement documentation

    The following are acceptable forms of documentation:

    • Funeral Director’s letter that confirms the name of the deceased and the date and location of the funeral as well as your relationship to the deceased
    • Death certificate
    • Letter from the certifying doctor

     

    Unexpected critical medical situations documentation

    The following is an acceptable form of documentation:

    • Letter from the attending doctor or hospital.

     

    To enable Loganair to make an informed assessment, the letter should include the diagnosis, date of onset and confirmation that this is an unexpected critical medical situation that is immediately life-threatening.

     

    In-patient documentation

    The following is an acceptable form of documentation:

    • Letter from the island, medical practice, hospital, or hospice confirming that an Immediate Family member is being treated as an in-patient in a hospital or hospice.

  • We understand that bereavement, an unexpected critical medical condition, or treatment in a mainland hospital to your Immediate Family may disrupt your planned travel on Loganair, and thus change flexibility will be necessary for compassionate travel.

    If you hold an existing ticket for travel that has not yet commenced and you can no longer travel as planned you can either:

    1. Cancel non-refundable fares with the value of the fare held in credit for up to 12 months (from the original date the ticket was issued). At the time of rebooking you will be required to pay any difference in fare, however the fare change penalty will be waived;
    2. Apply the value of your existing ticket towards a compassionate fare. Any difference in fare will need to be paid however the fare change penalty will be waived. As with new bookings under this policy we will provide additional flexibility to the new ticket for one change without cost subject to seat availability in the case of bereavement and critical medical situations, and subject to same class availability in the case of visiting an in-patient.
    3. Apply for a refund in the case of the bereavement to an Immediate Family member (a copy of the death certificate is required).

    If you hold an existing ticket for travel that has commenced and you need to return home due a bereavement or critical emergency, you can:

    • Change existing travel without penalty or service fees provided seats are available.

  • Yes. The air discount scheme applies to eligible card holders living on the islands; the usual terms and conditions apply and the 50% discount will apply to the discounted rate offered under this policy.

  • Unfortunately, not every situation will be covered by our compassionate policy. If you do not appear to be eligible for our compassionate fare, you may wish to use our low-fare finder on our website or alternatively call our contact centre for assistance to find suitable flights or for further advice.

  • Please note fares sold under Loganair’s Compassionate Travel Policy only apply to Loganair operated services where appropriate documentation has been provided and compassionate approval given. Compassionate fares are only available through the Contact Centre, Scapa Travel in Orkney and Travel Counsellors in Shetland.

  • Loganair’s Contact Centre - 0344 800 2855

    Bookings can also be made via:

    • Scapa Travel, Orkney, Tel 01856 889040
    • Travel Counsellors, Shetland, Tel 01595 707390