Every wonder what happens to the 10 people a year who die mid-flight? Well, if you’re flying British Airways you get the final upgrade. Corpses fly first class. From Times Online:
Paul Trinder, who awoke to see the body at the end of his row, last week described the journey as “deeply disturbing”, and complained that the airline dismissed his concerns by telling him to “get over it”.
“It was a complete mess — they seemed to have no proper plans in place to deal with the situation,” said Trinder, 54, a businessman from Brackley, Northamptonshire.
The woman died during a nine-hour flight on a Boeing 747. Trinder was catching up on sleep when he was woken by a commotion and opened his eyes to see staff maneuvering the body into a seat.
“I didn’t have a clue what was going on. The stewards just plonked the body down without saying a thing. I remember looking at this frail, sparrow-like woman and thinking she was very ill,” said Trinder.
“She kept slipping under the seatbelt and moving about with the motion of the plane. When I asked what was going on I was shocked to hear she was dead.”
British Airways responds:
BA said the dead woman was taken into first class because the rest of the plane was full.A spokesman said: “When a customer passes away on board it is always difficult and we apologise for any distress caused.”
He said there were about 10 deaths each year out of 36m passengers.
Other carriers use different procedures. Singapore Airlines has introduced “corpse cupboards” on its Airbus 340-500 aircraft. Cabin crews use the locker if there is no empty row of seats to place a corpse.
Note to self, do not fly Singapore airlines during zombie attack. Who knows how often they clean out the locker?—MEGHANN MARCO
BA Sat Corpse In First Class [Times Online]
(Photo: smartjunco)
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Don’t mean to sounds insensitve, but if I paid for a first class ticket and they moved a corpse next to me I would be really upset.
First of all they should have landed at the nearest airport and removed the body off the plane for health reasons.
Secondly he should have been compensated for being unecesarly inconvenienced.
They should have moved the passengers in her row to first class not the body into first class.
So what *I* want to know is, who got her frequent flier miles?
I thought that old people eating tins of cat food was urban legend, but after this and the Perina Death Chow stories, maybe not?
I’m going to start a band and call them ‘Corpse Cupboards’.
haven’t you all overlooked the fact that generally when somebody dies they release the contents of their bowels? Not only was she dead in first class…she had poopie pants too!
Narzy, That, what I said! (Perhaps I put it too delicately.)
Okay, No one mentioned that dead bodies BURP. Burp means they loose control of bladder, bowel any gases in the bowel are released causing a stinky problem. One we need to have respect for the dead you would not want your mother folded up and stuffed in over head, in the belly of the plane, or treated like luggage. Has anyone ever had to pay for a loved one to be returned from a foreign country that is dead. They did the most human compassionate thing available to them at the time and circumstance. Where in the article did it say she was traveling with family. stick to the facts. Didn’t say she was in the same roll as him didn’t say if they could of stuffed him in another row next to a farting drunk who wants to talk about how important he is. He actually said “frail, sparrow-like woman” with compassion toward the dead woman. He was disappointed that there was no respect paid to her that is what it was about.