And you thought your flight was bad?

[wowie]

Man tells of first class flight with corpse

LONDON (Reuters) - A passenger in first class woke up to a shock when he found himself sitting near a corpse on a British Airways flight, newspapers reported on Monday.

Paul Trinder, 54, said cabin crew moved the body of the elderly woman from the economy section where she had died after take-off, the Mirror and Sun tabloids said.

"The corpse was strapped into the seat but because of turbulence it kept slipping down on to the floor," Trinder, a businessman, was quoted as saying. "It was horrific. The body had to be wedged in place with lots of pillows."

The woman's daughter was also upgraded and spent the rest of the nine-hour flight from Delhi to London grieving next to her dead mother, the Sun reported.

The Guardian newspaper said the incident happened last week.

British Airways has apologised for any distress suffered, according to the reports. The Mirror quoted BA as saying: "We apologise, but our crew were working in difficult circumstances and chose the option they thought would cause least disruption."

Comments

[aflon.livejournal.com]

Poor dead lady, poor daughter and poor passenger. I think I would have freaked. What a problem for the flight staff - its one of those situations where no matter what you do, its sure to be wrong.

[fernande.livejournal.com]

You're right, what on earth do you do with a corpse? Tricky decision for them.

Made me snicker that they'd stuck it in First Class though; you pay all that money for a flight and then....

[wwowie.livejournal.com]

and then a dead person gets a seat just as good as the one you have?

[wwowie.livejournal.com]

They would've had one very ballistic me if I'd found her next to me!

[lauralynn22.livejournal.com]

Wow, just, wow. I would have totally freaked out if that happened to me. A very difficult situation for every one involved.

[wwowie.livejournal.com]

They needed that plane in Flightplan... it seemed to have a ton of extra space. ;)

[wowahwa.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, that poor woman ... and the daughter ... very, very sad.

[wwowie.livejournal.com]

You gotta feel for the daughter, too, don't you?

[pusspower.livejournal.com]

Horrible- it seems that planes need a refrigerated chamber for theses such occurences. It doesn't take long for a body to start to smell.

[vigwig.livejournal.com]

A horrible event with a simple solution: sealed body bag. No passenger, even the daughter, should have to sit hours next to a dead body.

[wwowie.livejournal.com]

a refrigerated chamber

That's a really good idea, but the question is how cost effective would it to be something like that?

[pusspower.livejournal.com]

I guess it depends on how often people die mid-flight. The airline would have to do one of those risk vs. cost vs. customer satisfaction analyses to see if it is worth it.

[wwowie.livejournal.com]

Only after a lot of in flight deaths would they even contemplate something like that I'm betting!

[lae808.livejournal.com]

what wouldn't they turn around a go back to the airport they left from instead of flying for almost 9 hours. Doesn't make sense to me.

[wwowie.livejournal.com]

Wonder how far out they were when it happened?

[fomocobaby.livejournal.com]

Yipes. I don't know what I would have done if it was up to me. Vigwig's right that a sealed bag would have been better, but you still have the problem of where to stow it. I'd be distressed if the newly-deceased body of a loved one was bumping around somewhere. Putting her next to a stranger is a definite no-no, though.

I think I would probably tell anyone nearby that "we have a passenger who has had some medical problems and needs special accomodations", clear a row, lay her down, and demand that everyone in the crew keep their mouths shut.

[wwowie.livejournal.com]

I guess since spare space on a plane is rather minimized it would be hard to find just where to put a body. To be someone travelling with the newly deceased would be terrible!

[urgayleswoman.livejournal.com]

Wow!

[carelessmemory.livejournal.com]

Yikes! How scary. And sad. Poor daughter. :(

Yikes!!!

[wyepeep.livejournal.com]

I feel for all people involved. To prop up a dead person like that is horrible. Surely they did not have to strap her in next to a stranger? Why didn't they move another first class customer so they could have two seats together? Then the daughter could sit with her mom. Airlines need a better plan, thats for sure. Maybe body bag and a place to stow the body in the service area of the plane? Anywhere but next to a stranger!!! I would have been so freaked out. No way I would fly that long next to a stiff!

Re: Yikes!!!

[wwowie.livejournal.com]

I find it really weird after mulling over this that there isn't a contingency plan on the major airlines in the event something like this happens.

[gondorbunny.livejournal.com]

My god, what a horrifying situation! I definitely would have flipped out if I woke up next to a dead person. No question about it!

[wwowie.livejournal.com]

You would think they might have considered that before putting her next to someone who was sleeping!