Airline Web sites hide discounts

Remember special airfares for children, seniors, the military and the bereaved?

They’re still available, but in fewer numbers and places than they were 20 or even five years ago – and they may or may not save you money.

Holdovers from a kinder, gentler era of flying when airlines were trying to drum up business, many special fares must be researched and booked the old-fashioned way, by telephone. Airlines’ Web sites often reveal little.

It’s almost as if the cash-strapped carriers don’t want you to know about these deals.

“These are all revenue-diluting fares,” said Kathryn Sudeikis, president of the American Society of Travel Agents. “They have been disappearing for several years.”

Those that remain can be confusing. A low-cost carrier’s walk-up fare might be cheaper than another airline’s bereavement fare – but not always. And a “discounted” child fare might cost more than an airline’s lowest adult fare.

There still are some deals, but sniffing them out can require dogged research.

Or you could save time by hiring a professional, especially when trying to land a last-minute fare to attend a funeral or visit an ailing relative.

“Travel agents are very resourceful,” Sudeikis said. “You’ve got to be creative.”

Here’s an overview of special fares still available on some domestic flights. I checked 11 of the biggest U.S. airlines by Web site or phone: Alaska, American, Continental, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Northwest, Southwest, United and US Airways-America West.

Children: Many large airlines offer an infant fare, typically half of the adult fare. This is charged when a child under 2 sits in a separate seat, in a safety seat. (Usually infants can sit on a parent’s lap for free, except on international flights.) Children older than 2 generally pay full fares.

Exceptions include JetBlue, which has no child fares; United, which nowcharges full fares even for infants; and Southwest, which offers fares for infants (to age 2), children (2 to 11) and youths (ages 12 to 21).

Southwest’s child fares are not always the least expensive route. When I called the low-cost carrier about booking a round-trip flight between Los Angeles International Airport and Chicago’s Midway, the agent offered a $258 infant fare and a $496 child/youth fare, plus tax. On Southwest’s Web site that day, I found an adult fare for $198, plus tax.

Seniors: “These fares are riding off into the sunset,” said Terry Trippler, an airline expert for Cheapseats.com. “Very few airlines have them.”

And when they do, they’re not always bargains.

For instance, on the L.A.-Chicago round-trip I priced on Southwest, the senior fare was $278 plus tax – $80 more than Southwest’s lowest fare that day.

United’s Silver Wings (www.silverwingsplus. com), a club for seniors 55 and older that charges $25 and up for annual memberships, offers what it calls “fixed low airfares” by zone. But under that system, I would have paid $409 (plus taxes and a $5 program fee) for a Los Angeles-JFK round trip instead of $368.60 (including taxes), which I found online at www.ual.com. (Delta, at $278.60, was even less, on a search at Orbitz, www.orbitz.com.)

America West last September ended its Senior Saver Pack, a four-coupon discount book. It and some other carriers still offer some senior fares.

American last year ended senior fares except from three Latin American nations.

Military: Many airlines still provide perks to military members and their families. American recently extended a program, through Jan. 19, that offers discounted airfares, relaxed advance-purchase rules and preferred boarding.

Continental takes 5 percent off tickets bought online by members of Veterans Advantage, a nationwide discount program.

Bereavement: These last-minute fares for funerals and illnesses are no longer assured.

Such fares “are no longer necessary,” Delta’s Web site says, because its SimpliFares provide “affordable” last-minute fares, capped at $599 each way in the contiguous U.S. states.

Southwest also cites low overall prices for that line’s lack of bereavement fares.

Several companies still offer such fares by phone, and these often can save you money. But if you’re used to buying the lowest-priced leisure tickets weeks or months in advance, prepare for a shock.

When I phoned United asking for a same-day bereavement fare for a nonstop round trip between L.A. and New York’s JFK, I was quoted $638.60, including tax. That was more than 40 percent off United’s lowest fare, $1,101 (plus taxes), that day, based on a search at Orbitz, and also less than other airlines’ least expensive nonstop ($748) and one-stop ($667) flights.

The bereavement fare, of course, was no deal compared with advance-purchase fares (I found one on United for $422.60), but it wasn’t bad for a last-minute booking.