Originally Posted by
PhillyPhlyer40
Upon landing at PHL, it was requested via announcement that we all wait in our seats until the serviceman could deplane. I was right behind him, and when I turned the corner to the jetbridge, I saw the request. A herse was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, and they were off-loading a casket with full honor colors. I waited at the end of the jetbridge for an associate, and would say a good 1/2 of the people off the plane were shedding tears. The ceremony that took place was watched by most of the people on the plane from the window.
This no longer happens. I just read an article in Esquire, that mentioned a law has been passed that forbids airlines from transporting military caskets. The caskets have to be transported by military planes or contracted private planes.
http://www.esquire.com/features/thin...-carried-him-5
"After lodging a complaint with the Army and receiving help from California senator Barbara Boxer, the Holleys saw their son met by an honor guard instead. Still angry, they began a campaign to change the way all military dead would be delivered. California representative Duncan Hunter, then chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, wrote legislation that eventually became known as the Holley Provision to the 2007 Defense Authorization Act. It directed that the bodies of fallen soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines would no longer be booked passage on US Airways, Delta, Northwest, or Continental but would be flown on military or military-contracted flights and met by honor guards."