I just experienced this so I am knowledgable. We both had ff accounts with AA, AWA, Delta and a Household account with BA. AA asked for a copy of the death certificate and a check for $50.00. AWA deducted 2500 miles they claimed was the enrollment promotion and transferred the rest upon receipt of a death certificate and that portion of the will that named me beneficiary. Delta requested copy of death certificate and transferred with no problem. With British, I requested closing the household accountand switching to an individual since I wanted more flexiblity in who could get an award and the others on the account hadn't contributed miles anyway, so they did that for me with no problem. I preferred being honest for several reasons: I wanted a larger amount of miles in one account, and didn't want to run into problems if an airline found out he was deceased. It was much easier to be honest.