Airlines trim bereavement fares

As the airline industry revamps its pricing strategy, carriers are scaling back on discounted last-minute fares to close relatives of the dead and dying.

No. 3 Delta Air Lines last month dropped so-called bereavement fares for travel in the 48 contiguous states, part of its change to a simplified pricing scheme in which it slashed many of its highest last-minute fares.

Air Canada ended bereavement fares in North America this month, nearly two years after it simplified fares in a fashion similar to Delta.

No. 7 US Airways has been eliminating bereavement discounts on about one-third of domestic flights since April, when it began phasing in lower, simplified fares.

Airlines have typically offered 50 percent discounts on their highest walk-up fares as so-called bereavement fares. Before the wave of fare simplification, those walk-up fares were often $2,000 or more for a last minute, round trip.

When Robert Bender’s father-in-law died three years ago, he says Delta quoted him a round-trip bereavement fare of $380 between Kansas City, Mo., and Phoenix. Then he went online and found a flight on America West for about $250. “Bereavement rates are a joke,” Bender says.

But funeral director Mark Musgrove of Eugene, Ore., says many distraught travelers appreciate the bereavement fares. Some may not know how to find cheaper fares on the Web, he says.

Most discount carriers, including Southwest and America West, don’t offer bereavement fares. Alaska Airlines continues to offer bereavement fares, but the airline isn’t ruling out a future policy change.

Teens not ready for plastic

Don’t cave in to your teenager’s pleas for a credit card or prepaid “allowance” card.

They’re just not ready for plastic, says Janet Bodnar, executive editor of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. She offers a timeline for your child’s financial development:

Start by teaching your preschooler to save his or her money. Kids this young literally need to see their money, so don’t head for the bank just yet. “They think if their money goes in, they’re never going to get it back again,” explains Bodnar. Instead, keep your child’s savings in a jar or piggybank.

Age 8: Open a savings account. By now, your child is old enough to understand that a bank will keep his or her money safe until it is needed.

Age 16: Open a checking account with an ATM/debit card. “Kids should have checking accounts when they get their first part-time job in high school,” Bodnar says. “The key is that it’s their money they have access to.” Sometimes banks are reluctant to open a checking account for a minor, so be sure to ask about joint or custodial accounts.

Resist the prepaid credit cards marketed to this age group, warns Bodnar. “They’re marketed for parents as a tool to teach the kids how to manage their money,” she says. “Young kids don’t really make a distinction between a prepaid card, a credit card or a debit card. They don’t get it. They don’t see it as a money-management tool. It’s not their money. It’s still mom and dad’s money.”

Age 18: If your child does not yet have a checking account, open one. It’s a good preparation for college, and the best way for you to send him or her money in an emergency.

Age 21 or 22: Let your child get a credit card. Of course, you can’t prevent him or her from applying after age 18, but Bodnar says a college senior is more prepared for credit. “When kids get credit cards younger in college, it’s too much of a temptation. The idea of, ‘Mom and Dad will bail me out if I get into a problem.”’

Wealthy are clipping coupons too

Next time you lust after that luxury car or plasma television you can’t afford, maybe this will ease your pain: The wealthy are more likely to be clipping coupons than the rest of us.

Noses no longer high in the air, affluent consumers clip coupons, shop at discount stores and cringe at being labeled “wealthy,” according to a new survey of about 800 consumers earning at least $125,000 in annual household income.

Seventy-two percent of these high-income earners said they clip coupons, compared to the national average of 65 percent, and 66 percent said they shop at discount and warehouse stores, compared with 47 percent of consumers on average nationwide. Visa commissioned the survey.

“These folks really think and behave a lot differently than the affluent Americans of previous generations,” said Michael J. Weiss, a demographer and author.

“Ninety percent don’t think of themselves as affluent. They describe themselves as middle class or upper middle class,” said Weiss, who Visa hired to analyze the survey results.

Of course, in some metropolitan areas — where the median home price is upwards of $500,000 — couples earning a combined $125,000 might be forgiven for thinking they’re middle class rather than wealthy.

But their income still puts them in the top 7 percent of all Americans, Weiss said, earning triple the national median household income of about $43,500 a year.