An airline worse than Delta?
BA sat corpse in first class (Steven Swinford, Times)
A BRITISH Airways passenger travelling first class has described how he woke up on a long-haul flight to find that cabin crew had placed a corpse in his row.
The body of a woman in her seventies, who died after the plane left Delhi for Heathrow, was carried by cabin staff from economy to first class, where there was more space. Her body was propped up in a seat, using pillows.
The woman’s daughter accompanied the corpse, and spent the rest of the journey wailing in grief.
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”.
Too many recent columns by people who aren't known to travel much who nonetheless blast on the travel experience this summer seem overwrought (and not borne of personal experience), but this is definitely a "deeply disturbing" travel incident.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/19/07 20:42 | Travel | Technorati
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Comments
This is a truly fascinating story. I am a bit skeptical of the claim that a body poses serious health risks after only 5 hours at room temperature. Especially in a contained environment like an aircraft.
I think that the fact that this was a flight out of Delhi is quite significant. In the Western world, we hardly ever encounter dead human bodies in our day-to-day business unless we work in law enforcement or emergency response, etc. I have only seen three, maybe four dead bodies in my entire life not counting viewings, etc. My understanding is that in India disposal of the dead is quite a bit more personal and seeing a dead body is not nearly as rare.
Obviously, the wailing would be distressing. And I think this guy should have gotten some sort of compensation. But also I think the criticism that BA should have better procedures in place is stretching it a bit. The number of passengers who croak on flights is not significant enough to warrant it. (assuming the numbers quoted in the article are accurate)
Posted by Ethan @ 21:10 on 07/19/07
Still, I'm thinking a bright flight crew could come up with a better solution.
How about stowing the corpse in a restroom, and discretely placing an "Out of Order" sign on the door?
The next of kin could visit, wail into the sink, and not disturb anyone!
Posted by Kevin @ 21:19 on 07/19/07
The restroom idea is feasible... but, then the article would have just been about somebody whose bladder ruptured because there was a cadaver in the bathroom. I am guessing that when someone dies on a flight, at least one passenger is inconvenienced in some hitherto unimagined way every time.
Maybe you should start an airline that specializes in high risk passengers. You could have medical staff aboard for those who can be saved and religious services for those who cannot.
Posted by Ethan @ 22:00 on 07/19/07
From the article:
Singapore Airlines has introduced “corpse cupboards” on its Airbus 340-500 aircraft.
Corpse cupboards?
Posted by callie @ 22:04 on 07/19/07
I think I'd have an equally hard time with a “corpse cupboard” as I would just sitting next to a corpse. I'd be looking at the corpse cupboard thinking, "I wonder how often they need to use that thing". The whole thing seems like a no-win situation for the airline.
Posted by The Dude @ 10:22 on 07/20/07
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