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.
This would have been a great script for Faulty Towers!
They only put her in first class because they knew she wouldn't take the free drinks.
At least on a cruise, they can place the deceased in a cool place until they reach port.
I'm surprised that this many folks pass away on flights on major airlines a year.
Yeah but the others there doubled up.
Couldn't you just chuck 'em? I mean, at sea we used to cover them with a flag and play taps before turning the dear departed into fish food. Trust me, they didn't care.
Lol
I will not make a Monty Python Dead Parrott sketch reference...
I will not make a Monty Python Dead Parrott sketch reference...
What did these bastrds ain first class want them to do, fold her in half and put her in an overhead bin?
LOL!!
Very clever post!!!We have a winner!
Was she pining for the fjords?
Feel free to make all the Monty Python references you wish. I cleared the way. ;-)
This is absolutely a dreadful story. Prayers of consolation for the deceased woman's family and friends.
That said, I absolutely cannot help laughing. It's the way I'll probably go--publicly, causing great inconvenience and embarrassment to my family. Like, you know, sitting in a lawn chair in the front yard in late summer for days...rotting away until the mailman or someone finally notices the flies buzzing around me. ;-D
...in your hubby's boxer shorts...
Better to expire before all your frequent flyer points do.... I wonder if BA gives any frequent dier points?
Maybe she can use the points for a casket purchase.
Oh well...at least she shortened her distance to heaven by 30,000 feet or so.... SHe was literally dying to get off that plane...eheheheh...ok I'm done....
I don't blame these people for being angry. They always have a section in the back of the plane where the flight attendents can lay down during flights. They should have put the body there.
A problem as frequent as this, and as potentially PR-negative as this, calls for design changes in the airplane itself.
I am not sure of this, but isn't there access to the luggage bay from within the plane? Atleast some sort of an intermediary, hermetic containment area? Surely this isn't a rocket-science problem!
The airline probably spends more on alleviating the negative image than solving this issue.
***What do you think they should do with a dead body? Lock it in the restroom? Toss it out an emergency door? What? ***
Ships have burial at sea so why not a special dump chute for burial at air.
DON'T LOOK UP!
I will not make a National Lampoon's Vacation Aunt Edna reference...
I will not make a National Lampoon's Vacation Aunt Edna reference...
I will not make a National Lampoon's Vacation Aunt Edna reference...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.