Here's a topic I haven't seen covered here. What happens if someone dies on a flight? Article in SFGate this morning.

http://www.sfgate.com/technology/bus...ne-7237325.php

One strategy is to move the body to First Class where there is more space. Another is that apparently SQ has a "corpse cupboard" at the back of the plane.

Anyone been on a flight where someone died? Seems like with so many of us taking so many flights it has to have happened to someone.

I was dating a UA FA who told me about two instances where she had to deal with a passenger dying mid-flight ... both times she and her colleagues were able to use an empty FC seat

the extreme case was the Braniff captain who suffered a fatal heart attack at the controls of their 747 about two hours out of HNL; his wife was the lead FA on that flight ... as I recall, the other FAs moved all the upper deck pax downstairs so she was able to be alone with him, and the flight continued to DFW

On a flight from FRA-YYZ many years ago I was in F on the UD of a 747. An older man and his wife were in the very last row of F, and somewhere south of Iceland there was commotion at the back of the cabin, followed by a PA announcement requesting the services of a doctor. One soon approached and tended to the old man. Captain announces that we are making an unscheduled medical stop in KEF. The big bird almost immediately turns right and descends. About ten minutes later the old man passed away, the doctor and the senior FA go into the cockpit and speak with the captain; I can hear most of what they're saying since we are in the first row. Five minutes later captain announces we are not going to stop and instead continue on to YYZ as planned. The old lady was understandably upset but amazingly composed. The old man was put in the flat position and covered with a large blanket. It was all a bit surreal.

AFAIK the corpse cupboard was only on A345 which were primarily used for SIN-LAX and SIN-EWR nontstop flights (i.e. ultralonghaul). Singapore no longer has any A345.

There was a 'documentary' on this subject last year

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/d...lights-3630744

I had a similar experience a few years ago travelling from LAS-LHR. A doctor was called for a whilst they were able to attend, someone in First (I was in J thankfully) passed away. Only difference was that the flight went straight into LHR without any holding and we were sent to a remote gate.

Glad I wasn't in F on that flight.


T

Happened on QF9 MEL-DXB a few days ago http://www.smh.com.au/national/qanta...09-go2esi.html

That is a crazy story, how many years ago was this?

While not strictly on topic, I happen to know that Holland America cruise lines keep several coffins on hand since a lot of people (and HA is popular with the older set) take one last cruise when they know they're going to die.

The average cruise lasts a lot longer than the average flight. Even if you only consider time between ports, two days is common and more isn't unusual. Even a moderate-size cruise ship holds more passengers than a packed all-economy A380, with large ones holding several thousand. For both those reasons, the odds of someone dying on a cruise are way higher than the odds of someone dying on a flight even before you consider demographics.

Mid/late 1990s. It was weird, that's for sure.

What's the refund/comp procedure in such a case?

As a pax, I'd be sympathetic to the cause but I'd also want to see my money back .

0. You got from A to B with more or less edible food. That's what you paid for, that's what you got. Not sure if sitting next to a dead pax is worse than next to some of the weird living types...

If the ice cream is soft, they are using the freezers for "other purposes".

Are you serious? I'll assume no, and this was a bit of a ha-ha moment. What would you get compensation for?