check the small print on your travel insurance

Snowlily. Very sound advice from Dave and Catford. You need to be persistent and very clear with these people. I get the impression that the first response will nearly always be a fob off (and sometimes the second response as well). However, if you persist and they sense that you know what you are doing and can present your case well, they will not want it going off to the Ombudsman. Good luck with your claim.

well the latest on this is a rejection letter from the complaints team. Not sure they can have investigated this as they have stated as they have not asked for many details.ANd the only attempt to contact us was on the day of the funeral. Ombudsman here we come. Wish us luck!
Will be searching for a travel policy that is actually worth having and will cover us for cancellation due to death of a relative. if we had actually been heartless and gone on the flight and flown straight back we believe from discussion with the them would have been covered not only for the cancelled holiday but costs to get us back.Last year one of our party did not go as a close relative died 2 days before departure ironically the same date and time as my mother in law. What are the odds on that??

Snowlily, I believe you have some powerful personal points that might strike home, if directed at the right target.

Were I to be the managing director of the insurance company, and I received a response from you stating ~ "We were not disappointed, we were bereaved", and that a second response was received on the day of the funeral, I might be cutting through everything here.

If this is like the banking ombudsman, there will be a pretty stiff fee for the company to pay, win or lose. Also, any bad publicilty may cost them 10 times any payout.
Suggestion. Write a response.
a) As you have previously stated, you now confirm this case is going forwards to the Ombudsman
b) You are currently framing a letter to the managing director, (name him), about the clear insensitivities of the case.
c) Because you feel strongly about the poor wording of the Ts & Cs, you are now active in "framing a case to present to the media", warning them about the company. (Do a bit of homework, and find out the best media, a TV travelshow, a TV consumer program, a couple of major weekend newspapers, inc Tony Heatherington, Mail on Sunday) Name the media that you will be contacting.

Finalise by re-stating your outrage at their insensitivity.

It may be that I should have PMd you with this, but I have had to deal with rough justice from an insurance company, and I suspect many others will have too.

I am sorry to read of your bereavement and that you are having such a time of it right now. :(
My point is that it's worth checking the xs on insurance policies. I broke my wrist skiing at Christmas and will be making a claim but with an xs of £100 on most parts of the policy I will not get back what I thought I would ! An example is that my wedding ring had to be cut off and the cost to repair is £90 therefore I will get nothing for that. I also didn't realise its an xs for each and every part of the claim not the total amount. No I have not had to claim before on a policy and hence the ignorance!!!!
So there you go- read the policy, check the details and remember none of us think we will ever claim but accidents do happen and then you can be significantly out of pocket.
Good luck with your claim.