Death In Flight

**johno** · 19-Mar-07, 10:32

read in the paper this morning, a sleeping passenger on a BA flight from India was awakened by aircrew fidgiting with an elderly woman, strapping her in her seat & propping her up with pillows. when the man asked what was going on they told him that the woman had died & that there ws no other place to put her.
now i am not really afraid of the dead,[ it,s the living you aught to watch out for]. but i dont think i would be happy sitting next to a corpse on a long haul flight or any flight come to that. surely in this day and age airline company,s can forsee this sort of thing happenning and have suitable accommodation already in hand. To add to it the dead woman,s daughter sat next to him and wailed all the way throughout the rest of the journey. On an airplane carrying 250+ people on a daily basis this is bound to happen from time to time so would it be so hard for the airlines to have something proper set up to handle these situations in a fit and compassionate manner,or is filling the seats more important than passengers comfort and feelings

**DarkAngel** · 19-Mar-07, 10:55

Oh gosh thats awful news, I wouldnt like sitting next to a dead person either on a flight.
Maybe the planes nowadays should maybe have something like an extra room/cabin at back of the plane to put someone if something like that happend. Im sure most people would agree that they wouldnt like to be stuck on a long haul flight with a dead person on full view to them all!
Poor lady.

**golach** · 19-Mar-07, 10:57

Sad news for the deceased, but is this not extreme lengths to go to get upgraded to First Class.

**Angela** · 19-Mar-07, 11:12

Originally Posted by johno

or is filling the seats more important than passengers comfort and feelings

I'm afraid it probably is, johno, although you would expect there to be some provision made

**MadPict** · 19-Mar-07, 11:22

Originally Posted by DarkAngel

Maybe the planes nowadays should maybe have something like an extra room/cabin at back of the plane to put someone if something like that happend.

Most long haul flights do have crew rest areas (the 747 has it at the rear above the passenger cabin) but can you imagine the struggle of trying to get a dead passenger through a packed aircraft? No doubt the options have been thought out and the leave in-situ is the least disruptive. Also, they might be required by law not to move the deceased person until a qualified medical person has checked the body? Only a doctor can certify death.

Edited:
Seems the body was moved INTO business class from economy. Still, to try and get a body into the crew rest areas would be difficult. Maybe they can build in a hatch to drop the body into the hold?.....
Story -- http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2037272,00.html

Typical crew rest areas...
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart...abins-0106.gif
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/news/feature/osu.html
http://img.china.alibaba.com/news/up...7252366135.jpg

**DarkAngel** · 19-Mar-07, 11:42

Originally Posted by MadPict

Most long haul flights do have crew rest areas (the 747 has it at the rear above the passenger cabin) but can you imagine the struggle of trying to get a dead passenger through a packed aircraft? No doubt the options have been thought out and the leave in-situ is the least disruptive. Also, they might be required by law not to move the deceased person until a qualified medical person has checked the body? Only a doctor can certify death.

Never thought about it that way, It would be a hard struggle tryin to shift a dead passenger through the narrow plane, And also never thought bout the Doctor thing either...Its Monday morning!!! my excuse lol

**Whitewater** · 19-Mar-07, 12:07

Seems to be pretty horrible to let it stay in the seat but as 'MadPict' has said there are probably several reasons for leaving it where it is, and perhaps moving the passenger/s sitting next to a different area is a better option.

**golach** · 19-Mar-07, 12:17

When a person dies on board a ship, the body is usually stored in the Deep Freezers, next to the Sides of Beef and all the other frozen meats, until the ship reaches the next port. Scarey when going to collect the sausages and black puddings for breakfast.

**Angela** · 19-Mar-07, 12:20

Originally Posted by golach

When a person dies on board a ship, the body is usually stored in the Deep Frezzers, next to the Sides of Beef and all the other frozen meats, until the ship reaches the next port. Scarey when going to collect the sausages and black puddings for breakfast.

Too much information there, golach!

**MadPict** · 19-Mar-07, 12:43

Suppose they could always place the corpse in an overhead locker now that passengers are restricted to one small carry on bag.....

**johno** · 19-Mar-07, 12:46

Originally Posted by DarkAngel

Never thought about it that way, It would be a hard struggle tryin to shift a dead passenger through the narrow plane, And also never thought bout the Doctor thing either...Its Monday morning!!! my excuse lol

well they managed to move the corpse from economy to business class. why move it at all .if that was the case it seems that the narrow lanes wouldnt stop it being transported to staff areas where at least it would be out of sight. ps BA told the chap who was sitting next to the corpse that he would receive no compensation & to just get over it

**stratman** · 19-Mar-07, 12:49

Originally Posted by MadPict

Suppose they could always place the corpse in an overhead locker now that passengers are restricted to one small carry on bag.....

Bodies leak fluids ect. you know!! Yuk

**MadPict** · 19-Mar-07, 13:09

Obviously I am now aware they actually moved it having read the news item -- only the crew would be able to answer why they moved it to Business Class (fewer seats in a more open area might have been seen as less of a 'threat to health' than having the corpse in Economy?)
Also the stairs to the crew rest areas are usually narrow and not exactly conducive to moving a body through.

Other first class passengers in the Boeing 747 jumbo said that there appeared to be no other system to deal with the tragedy, which happens an average of 10 times a year on BA flights.

Do 10 deaths a year warrant designing in a cadaver store into aircraft? They are cramped for suitable space as it is. I suppose they could sit the body in one of the toilets and lock that? But then how would the relatives feel about grandma sitting on the loo for the rest of the flight.
It's a hard call to make I suppose - respect for the deceased and concern for other passengers including relatives.

The business class passenger should have been offered another seat (if available) or should get some compensation.

stratman,
I'm sure they could find a ziplock bag to put it in - unless it exceeds the 100ml restrictions...

**brandy** · 19-Mar-07, 13:21

umm just curious.. why didnt they move the gentlman?

**MadPict** · 19-Mar-07, 13:35

The passenger nearest to the seat chosen as the temporary morgue, a BA gold card businessman who logs some 200,000 flying miles a year...

If Business was full maybe they couldn't - there is a bit of space between each seat so maybe they felt as the guy wasn't actually in the seat next to the corpse he'd be fine. I mean he flies 200k miles a year - what does he expect? A trouble free flight everytime? I think he should stop griping and maybe accept that someone died on the flight so maybe just this once he could put up with a little inconvenience and shut up.....

He's probably responsible for global warming alone!!!!

**johno** · 19-Mar-07, 16:53

Originally Posted by MadPict

If Business was full maybe they couldn't - there is a bit of space between each seat so maybe they felt as the guy wasn't actually in the seat next to the corpse he'd be fine. I mean he flies 200k miles a year - what does he expect? A trouble free flight everytime? I think he should stop griping and maybe accept that someone died on the flight so maybe just this once he could put up with a little inconvenience and shut up.....

He's probably responsible for global warming alone!!!!

put yourself in this guys shoes would you like to be sat next to a corpse and a wailing woman for several hours. no. i dont think so. i think that the airlines aught to have a space on board for this kind of thing. surely for decency,s sake the sacrifice of a few seats wouldnt cut into the budget that much.
i mean that it could easily put to other uses when there are no deaths, like for folk that are ill or through sickness.

**Bloo** · 19-Mar-07, 17:22

*drags corpse along floor* "whats wrong with that woman?" oh shes dead. "what?! why and where are you dragging her?" We're dragging her to the smallest place in the plane. we're dragging her because shes gonna smell soon! Bit cruel of me but someone wrote put her in cabin or something like that. well that would be the situation. they would think you just murdered somebody with a plastic spork.

**MadPict** · 19-Mar-07, 17:29

It's hard enough to get the airlines to remove a couple of rows of seats just to give passengers a measly couple of inches more legroom. I somehow don't think they will make space for the less than one passenger a month that dies mid flight.

Each seat =££££'s
The airlines say that they pack as many people into the aircraft that they do because otherwise they would lose money.

I did say in my earlier post that he might be due some compensation but then where do you draw the line for this? Surely EVERY passenger in Business would qualify for compensation as the all had to share the same cabin? Thats likely to cost in the region of £54,000 if they all claimed successfully!

Multiply that by the 10 that BA say die in-flight every year and thats a cool half a million each year!

**johno** · 19-Mar-07, 18:38

Originally Posted by MadPict

It's hard enough to get the airlines to remove a couple of rows of seats just to give passengers a measly couple of inches more legroom. I somehow don't think they will make space for the less than one passenger a month that dies mid flight.

Each seat =££££'s
The airlines say that they pack as many people into the aircraft that they do because otherwise they would lose money.

I did say in my earlier post that he might be due some compensation but then where do you draw the line for this? Surely EVERY passenger in Business would qualify for compensation as the all had to share the same cabin? Thats likely to cost in the region of £54,000 if they all claimed successfully!

Multiply that by the 10 that BA say die in-flight every year and thats a cool half a million each year!

but the reason that BA lose money every year is becouse their prices are so high, and becouse their prices are so high is becouse a lot of their seats are empty,WHY are the seats empty?, becouse their prices are so high. if you read this slowly it makes sense. THE budget airlines can do it so why cant BA
but regardless of how BA or Virgin or any airline operates if 10 people die on flights each year the airlines aught to be able to handle it with a little more tact than has been shown in this case. im sure that if you were travelling with a relative and this happened to him or her you would not care to have them treated so
off handedly . put it this way my car has ABS i dont need it so much but it,s there in case i do. same should be said for some place to accomidate death,s on an airplane