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BA apologises after dumping dead body in first class: reports
AFP on Yahoo ^ | 3/18/07 | AFP

Posted on 03/18/2007 8:45:53 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

LONDON (AFP) - British Airways has apologised after placing the body of a woman who died three hours into a London-New Delhi flight in a vacant first-class seat, media reports said Monday.

After the elderly woman died, the flight's cabin crew moved her from her economy class seat into a vacant first class seat, strapped her in with a seatbelt and propped her up with pillows.

Her daughter was given a vacant seat next to her, and reportedly spent most of the remaining five-odd hours of the flight wailing and in tears.

A passenger seated nearest to the corpse, identified by the Daily Mirror only as Paul, told the paper of how the crew had not informed him that the woman had died mid-flight.

"I went to the galley and said, 'She doesn't look too well'," the 54-year-old businessman told the Mirror.

"The crew told me, 'We put out a call to the doctor but it was too late. She's expired.'"

He added that "because of turbulence it (the body) kept slipping down on to the floor. It was horrific."

A spokesman for BA was quoted by the Mirror as saying: "We apologise, but our crew were working in difficult circumstances and chose the option they thought would cause least disruption."

According to The Guardian, about 10 people a year die on BA flights, and the airline acted in a similar fashion when an American traveller died half-way through a six-hour London-Boston flight in November.

The man was covered with a blanket and strapped into a reclining first-class seat.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: britain; firstclass; howtogetanupgrade; india; london; newyork; seatupgrade; wearenotamused
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To: pax_et_bonum

Not a bad idea...alternatively, you could try to put a midget in the overhead compartment...


101 posted on 03/19/2007 2:37:43 PM PDT by JRios1968 (Tagline wanted...inquire within)
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To: NormsRevenge
Are you people all college sophomores? Respect for the dead is a universal value.

A tragic ordeal for the daughter and a most disconcerting one for those seated nearby. There needs to be one special compartment so that this sort of thing can be dealt with in a dignified manner. Where to place it, I'm not sure.

102 posted on 03/19/2007 2:54:55 PM PDT by marshmallow
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To: pax_et_bonum

Yeah but you might not get your frequent flyer miles.


103 posted on 03/19/2007 3:00:25 PM PDT by Maximus of Texas (On my signal, pull my finger.)
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To: JRios1968

:-)


104 posted on 03/19/2007 3:14:28 PM PDT by pax_et_bonum (I will always love you, Flyer.)
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To: Maximus of Texas

You are very bad.


105 posted on 03/19/2007 3:15:18 PM PDT by pax_et_bonum (I will always love you, Flyer.)
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To: Lucas McCain

Since this is a fairly frequent occurrence for airlines, you'd think they'd keep some sort of harness type seat belt add-on handy, so that the body can at least be secured to a seat. The same sort of thing would be handy for seriously disruptive passengers who need to be restrained. Other passengers should be able to recognize that the body can't be stuffed in a restroom or overhead bin, but being expected to spend hours on a flight with a dead body in a nearby seat, that keeps sliding down to the floor and needing to be re-propped, seems a tad unresonable and pretty easily avoidable.


106 posted on 03/19/2007 3:26:46 PM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: Grizzled Bear

"great script for Faulty Towers"

I think the movie was Weekend at Bernies or something like that.


107 posted on 03/19/2007 3:56:07 PM PDT by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like what you say))
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To: wideminded

If one has to go, what better way than.. uhh.. ,, we lost 2 on one cruise,, yup, eating dinner one night, gone the next.. I hope I'm going that strong at 95.


108 posted on 03/19/2007 6:20:20 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ......)
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To: NormsRevenge

Dead people don't try to make inane conversation with you, don't try to monopolize the armrest, and frankly smell better than a lot of the live people I've been seated next to. What's the problem?


109 posted on 03/21/2007 7:55:56 AM PDT by steve-b (It's hard to be religious when certain people don't get struck by lightning.)
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