My daughter is pregnant. Can I purchase an airline ticket without flight date (yet?)

First, congratulations on the grandbaby that is coming. :)

Second, welcome to Fluther.

Finally, to the matter at hand. I’ve never heard of being able to purchase an airline ticket without a date on it. You have to have a date, and there will be a fee and other charges to change your travel plans.

There are tickets that you can purchase which will allow you to change your dates later, but they are much more expensive than discounted fares. They are right up there with first class prices.

Now, I’ve seen something called travel insurance on Internet sites like expedia.com. I could very well be wrong, but something like that may make it possible for you to change dates.

Your best bet is to pick an airline and call them directly and ask.

You need a date when you purchase your ticket. In the past the fee to change your date was usually quite expensive, especially for the first leg of your trip. There are new rules that just went into effect this year that could help you. The new rule gives customers 24 hours to change their reservations without having to pay rebooking fees. This would save passengers money in case they make a mistake.

Talk to the airlines directly, they may have programs to accommodate you that are not advertised. I know is it relatively easy, but a bit expensive to get a bereavement flight. I imagine there is something similar for medical ‘emergencies.’

Thank you for your thoughts. I will call Delta tomorrow. I have a bit of time to work this out as she is not due until June 30th. But I thought I’d better start considering it now. A 24hr booking change will not help me, really, but thanks for that information.

And as for the congrats,... She is due June 30th, in North Dakota. My son/daughter-in-law are due with their first baby July 2nd…just two days later. I’m being selfish in hoping daughter goes a week early and daughter-in-law a week late. I have a feeling I will be missing one…or both of the births. =( ~susieb

You might want to check Amtrak too. They are more flexible with their ticketing and Amtrak stops in a couple of the larger cities in North Dakota.

Amtrak takes approximately 19 hours to get there. Not a time effective choice, Thank you for the thought, though. I just checked online and when I book through Priceline I DO choose the airline insurance, so I will call for sure tomorrow to see if my situation qualifies. Regardless I will not be able to hop a plane immediately, but it could be possible to know that she will go sooner, (such as just beginning dilation) or need a scheduled C-section so I’d need to move up my date to a ‘leave tomorrow morning’ kind of thing. This is very difficult. Gosh.

You could just plan to go out early. I am sure she would like help with housework and driving by then.

As far as I know, only on Southwest. And then you still need a flight date, but it will not cost to change it later on. It might impact your rate though.

Well, assuming you will be using Delta since you are in MI and flying west, and I’ll assume you are flying out of Metro, be warned Delta is usually expensive in general, expensive for a fully refundable ticket and expensive to change dates if it is not fully refundable. But, if you are not flying out of Metro, or if you have to connect even flying out of Metro, it might be a little more reasonable, and you should check other airlines like American which would connect you in Chicago if they have flights to the airport you need to go to. Old Northwest airlines, now Delta, was very good at monopolizing their hub city airports and generally gouging customers for non-stops.

The only way to do this would be to fly ‘stand by’ and I don’t think you would want to do that. But call the airline you are thinking of flying with and ask.

As a very frequent Delta flier I would caution you to NOT buy your ticket via Expedia or Orbitz or the like. Buy a fully refundable Delta fare from Delta. This will give you the most leverage and ability to deal with Delta directly to move your flight (a week earlier or later), if needed.

I’ve seen too many travelers in tears at the airport with sad stories of tickets pre-paid to discount sites that left them unable to get Delta to help them and they were being forced to try to dial 1–800 numbers to try and get Orbitz or someone to help them without much luck. I see it all too often in airports..and read about it in traveling ombudsmen type newspaper columns.
Moreover, Delta.com routinely has fares that are the same or less than the other online sites. My corporate travel website (which is supposed to always be discounted well below the standard airfares) is sometimes more expensive for the same flight I can see on Delta.com.
As other posters have noted—Delta has a near-monopoly flying in to MSP or Fargo and they make us pay dearly for it..they are very expensive.

We do have Southwest now at MSP and they over a “no change fees” flexible flight ticket option. Some details here

If I were traveling on my own dime and needed flexibility (and especially because it’s summer and easy to make the drive without worrying about snow) I’d fly from MI to MSP on Southwest, rent an inexpensive unlimited mileage rental car and drive to N.Dakota from MSP.

Thank you, everyone. l will be flying out of FNT- Flint Bishop, since it is 20 minutes from my home, and usually a stop at MSP for a layover, then on to Jamestown. I guess I’m wanting a miracle and those are pretty hard to come by. I’m not able to rent a car, as I do not have a credit card, and I’m unable to obtain one. My income consists of private duty home health care (paid cash) and part time photographer.

I hope to be going out there a week or so early to help her out. My concern is her pregnancy thus far (20wks) is mid to high risk, with gall bladder attacks, kidney stones and family history of toxemia resulting stillbirth while carrying girls. They’re watching her very carefully as her last Ultra Sound indicated more likely a girl, but she has another scan this coming Tuesday for more accurate gender determination while also scanning her liver, gall bladder and kidneys for issue.

The poor girl is 21 years old and been a walking medical case all of her life. Born 6 weeks early (due to my toxemia…after losing her sister to toxemia earlier at 28wks gestation) acquired shingles at age 4 on her eyelid, kidney stones at age 15, artificial knee cap at age 18 and now all of this. Bless her husband for taking on a bit of a medical mess and loving her, non the less. She just wants mama there when she has her baby. Oyyyy…

I could feasibly go out sooner, but finding someone to come to my home daily or stay in my home to care for my 3 cats for a month gets a bit iffy as well. So, as I said, I’m looking for a miracle. Oh dear… lol

Good luck @susieb721 I hope your daughter ( and daughter-in-law) has a healthy baby.
I have done the, last minute get a ticket to go be with my daughter thing when she had her baby.
It is exciting!

Maybe you can rationalize paying a slightly higher ticket with less notice, assuming you would have to pay someone to take care of your cats if you went having bought a ticket with a lot of notice?