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.
10 a year .. This from not so long ago..
BA passengers share first class cabin with dead traveller
Daily Mail UK ^ | 23:01pm on 4th December 2006 | RAY MASSEY
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1748534/posts
Posted on 12/04/2006 7:53:24 PM PST by james500
I saw that Jody Foster movie about airplanes--they couldn't store this poor dead woman in the hold or something til they arrived at their destination?
Didn't look good--I bet! :-o
No pun intended.
If this is such a frequent occurrence, shouldn't a solution have been thought of for this situation a long, long time ago?
Maybe airlines should start packing body bags.
Surely they could zip a stiff into a bag and hang them up in the galley for the remainder of the flight.
Or maybe have a seat specifically designated as the morgue and only the dead get to sit there.
This isn't something to make light of but I can see why he'd say that.
Seems a reasonable solution to me.
Other options would be leaving her prone in an aisle ( evacuation hazard ) or maybe tossin her into bagage which seems wrong somehow.
The death was tragic and traumatic on those around her but BA can't change that.
How are they supposed to get into the hold whilst in flight?
Will she fit in overhead?
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.
Unfortunately, depending on size and type of aircraft, there is no easy discreet way to handle this.
I feel for the crew and family and immediate passengers.
Sounds like a bad sitcom. But what are the airlines to do with passengers who kick the bucket inflight? You can't chuck them out the door.
Overhead bins are only intended for the storage of dead midgets I'm afraid.
There is no one right way of dealing with such situations.
You beat me by less than a minute!
What do you think they should do with a dead body? Lock it in the restroom? Toss it out an emergency door? What?
I'm sorry...
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