Hi JerseyVics,

Sorry to hear of your loss, have been in a very similar situation myself a few years ago. Given the time lapse since the OP, I'm not sure whether this information is any longer relevant but:

When I was faced with similar (my father suddenly took a turn for the worse after a long illness) I was at my desk at work first thing in the morning and needed to be on a plane that day.

I called my Travel Agent, by the time I got home everything was ticketed and as it had to be a paper ticket, she was waiting with the documents. BA http://www.flyertalk.com/thumbsdown.gifhad a note in their booking, I had been squeezed onto a full plane (no status then, but was at the front of the Y cabin). QF check-in staff at MEL were great - explaining that as this was a last-minute booking SOP dictated my bags be hand searched before acceptance. Left Melbourne at 3:30pm that afternoon. At SIN there was a text waiting for me with details of my car hire.

In this day of internet bookings, I still use my TA for all my personal travel.

If you still need to be somewhere and can't find what you're looking for get down to a TA. I'm convinced that her talking with the airlines managed to find a seat which may not have otherwise have shown as being available.

Have a safe journey and I hope you manage to get there in time.

BD