BA Passenger Dies in Flight
 

BA passengers share first class cabin with dead traveller

By RAY MASSEY, Transport Editor

Last updated at 23:01pm on 4th December 2006

First Class travellers on a British Airways transatlantic flight were horrified when they were forced to sit next to a dead body for three hours.

The elderly passenger had died of a heart attack just minutes earlier and was carried into their cabin to continue the journey to America.

http://tinyurl.com/yf97wo

BA should get those bigger bins like SQ that can fit a corpse, with those dozen deaths a year.

SQ has removed the corpse bin after one of its pilots posted a picture of it online.

Much commendation to the BA crew for being so professional during unusual times like these.

This same unfortunate situation recently happened on a DL flight we were on about 6 weeks ago from ATL to LGW. The female passenger, about 75 years old and travelling on her own, had a heart attack a couple of rows behind us and the crew could not revive her with CPR. We were very close to Long Island so we diverted to BOS and they removed her from the front of economy when we landed at BOS. Fortunately the flight was not very full so there was no issue of cabin space when performing CPR on her. The crew were very professional and did all they could for her, but no avail.

The rest of the flight to LGW from BOS was very subdued, and the crew who performed CPR on her were emotionally drained for the rest of the flight. We gave credit to the crew for their efforts and professionalism in a very difficult situation.

there's never a dull moment in the air is there?

Is this the only way some can get upgraded to first class?

if you aren't British.

Am I the only one who sees something wrong with dragging a dead body through the plane? I think thats more disturbing than just leaving him where he is. If he were in economy would they have moved him to F as well?

I'm assuming the man and his wife were seated next to each other, so why was there a need to move him? From a health perspective, there needs to be some stronger guidlines in handling the deceased. Unless a doctor was onboard to declare the cause of death(and that's not always possible without an autopsy), a body shouldn't be moved until on the ground.

If the deceased died from something transferable, exposing the crew(and consequently pax) to the bacteria/virus can put many people at risk.

Your wording reminds me of the episode from the all-time classic Fawlty Towers in which Fawlty and Manuel do just that (at least through the hotel):

http://www.fawltysite.net/episode10.htm

...because it's hard to do CPR on somebody when they're sitting in an airplane seat.....

So leave him in the chair? Moving him is moving him. Aint no difference between the move from the chair to the galley floor in order to do the CPR, and the move to an appropriate storage place where he can be seatbelted in, dead or not. (Of course that's my opinion.... I wouldn't want to get hit by a flying corpse in clear air or severe turbulence. Your desire(s) may differ....) ;)

The rest of the flight to LGW from BOS was very subdued, and the crew who performed CPR on her were emotionally drained for the rest of the flight. We gave credit to the crew for their efforts and professionalism in a very difficult situation.[/QUOTE]

I believe it is called an adreneline high, and it can be very disruptive in its low. I have experienced similar situations, and the low is exhausting. Please forgive us if we are not as "perky" for the remainder. I recall needing coffee after all of those emergency landings.

[QUOTE=OrlandoFlyer;6793702]The female passenger, about 75 years old and travelling on her own, had a heart attack a couple of rows behind us and the crew could not revive her with CPR. QUOTE]

A reason that every aircraft (and every school, sporting arena, etc.) should be outfitted with an AED (automatic external defibrillator) in the chance that the patient can be converted to a normal cardiac rhythm. Not saying it would have helped in this particular case, but you need to give people a fighting chance to survive a lethal cardiac arrythmia, and ventricular fibrillation is the most common heart rhythm disturbance in sudden cardiac death.

Sad news. :(

[QUOTE=DriveByDoc;6807573]I'm not sure about other carriers, but UAL has them on all a/c, and it is a no-go item.