May have to delay my flight out to South Africa due to a funeral

[Ripeberry]

On the 08th Aug, me and my familly are supposed to be going to see friends in S.A. This is the only time we can go and my DH says he is going no matter what as he has used lots of savings for this and won't get the time off again.

The last week or so has been VERY emotional for me as my mum died last Sunday in hospital after a long period of getting worse at home (Dementia) and the GP's were not helping at all and my dad was left to get on with it by himself.
One thing led to another and mum had several bad falls at home and ended up in hospital with severe bruising and enormous bumps on her head.

Because of all this, the death certificate is not being released as they don't know what she died of and there may even be an inquest into it all.
So as you can imagine, there is no way that I feel like going on holiday.

We do have travel insurance, but is it possible just for me only to cancel my flight out and get a refund and then try and re-book but use the original ticket on the way back?

Don't think I could stand DH being at home, mopping about not being able to go to S.A. He has not seen my mum for over 3yrs anyway and never liked her that much, even before she got ill.

Very sorry to hear about your Mum. I think you should talk to your travel insurance provider and the airline who are issuing your tickets and see what they say. They might have to cancel your personal tickets there and back and issue new ones.

Speak to your travel insurance and whoever you booked through. As girlywhirly says I would expect you need to get the travel agent to cancel both flights and re-book them, and then you claim back for the cancelled flights. Sadly there may be a difference in fare, so get on to it ASAP before you get too close to the departure dates, as fares tend to go up, not down. The other passengers should still be able to use the ticket and fly with the original ticket, you need to check that. You must speak to your travel agent and the insurance company before you change anything about the ticket.

Normally all passengers are required to have a return ticket to enter a country. If for one reason or another passengers don't check-in for your outbound flight, most airlines will say it is a "no show" and automatically cancel the return flight.

Sorry to hear about your mum.