Lack of Compassion from Emirates - Very Poor
 

So here is the scoop. My sister-in-law's father passed away suddenly on the weekend. My sister-in-law was due to fly home LUN-LHR in April some time and had already booked a flight on Emirates for that trip.

I advised her to call Emirates and explain the situation and see if they could change the flight so she could make the funeral. I said i would expect that they would wave the change fee on compassionate grounds.

According to Emirates, I was wrong. She was told that, as she bought the cheapest fare available, that she would have to pay the US$350 change fee.

I find that disgusting. Emirates are clearly profiting from other peoples misery on this. Has anyone else had any experience of the same?

I think she should be able to cancel for free and then rebook. She'll probably have to provide proof of the death so Emirates will waive the cancellation fee.

Nope
 

Cancel - yes. Refund - no. I am really shocked an Airline like Emirates would treat a situation like this so insensitively.

I'm just wondering if the trip planned for "April some time" is too far in the future for consideration.

The fare rules have a provision in the case of death of an immediate family member. But if this is an inbound then cancellation (especially on a cheap fare) will result in little-no money left (not because of penalties, but because of the way a refund is calculated on partially utilised tickets).

Rebooking penalties are also waived but the passenger will still need to pay the fare difference.

Charges for Changes and Cancellation are waived - even on the absolute cheapest fares on EK - but unfortunately there may be a fare difference to pay if your sister-in-law is (presumably) moving her return travel date to sometime immediately, as flights to London at the moment are looking very, very full.

Your sister-in-law will need to go to the EK office in Lusaka (it's in the center of town) with a copy of the death certificate who can then make the arrangements.

are you sure that the airline is charging a change fee and not just the fare difference?

Looking at the cheapest fare to LUn from UK, the cheapest fare has a GBP75 change fee but waived for death of family member

If the flights are busy and no availability in the same class, then there could be extra fare to pay.

This would seem to be a good time to check ones travel insurance which may well cover it

No compansionate fares
 

Emirates says that they do not do compassionate fares. I am kind of going of emirates as an airline.

I sympathise with your sister-in-law's situation, but I'm afraid that increasingly many, many airlines no longer offer bereavement fares - across all markets, worldwide. I don't think any mainline network offer them - the last bastion of them, the US market, has stopped doing so: the most that is offered is free rebooking and waived cancellation fees.

If you sister-in-law is UK-based, she may have travel insurance from a financial product like a bank account or credit card which may cover the costs of the new flight.

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

QF still offers something along the line of bereavement:
https://qantas.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/520

But only for domestic flights (still a nice guesture).

I would also not assume that the fare is one of the cheapest though even if offered

Looks like the OP didn't want such a fare but not to have to pay anything to change existing return flight

Travel insurance can cover thus type of circumstance if it us immediate family

When my dad died a few years ago and I need to get his body, myself and my mum back to UK to bury him I called Virgin and they had a dedicated department (small albeit, as I soon got to know all their names) to help. The people were normal agents who had also undergone special training in dealing with people who had lost loved ones.

I did a call round a few airlines for my sister-in-law. Some main airlines did have special fares, some did not, but would make changes for no fee, some did not even know how to spell bereavement (that is not an exaggeration, they literally asked me to spell it).

There is a HUGE difference between ignoring availability and profiteering by selling that seat at the highest possible fare rather than selling at the lowest advertised fare.