Emirates does allow change fee to be waived in case of death, but any fare difference will have to be paid

It may not offer special bereavement fares , but that would seem irrelevent in this case

It is not reasonable to expect the airline just to ignore availability and nto charge the fare difference

If held, the passenger's travel insurance may well cover the costs

I don't see that EK is operating worse than other airlines in handling such situations. If there is a cost to get back and no insurance is held, then need to accept that the passenger was self insuring against such events