How would you feel about this on a plane

[eyeeyeeyeeyeeye]

Couple made to sit next to a dead body of a lady who died onboard

apple.news/A8Nu4zbMtRYOtJwBUKIhyqw

It's not unusual to be scared of death. Pretty much all living organisms do everything in their power to avoid death.

I wouldn't want to sit next to a dead person on a plane. I understand why it might not be possible to do anything else but it certainly wouldn't be a pleasant experience.

Oh I see, not in her seat.

Ok so even this guy can't have failed to notice that her seat was very likely now free...

And yet he watched his wife sensibly move, and stayed sat down. Strange man.

Usually two of those at most (as a poster has said configurations vary ) but on a very long haul flight you need both of them so that the relief pilots have somewhere to sit for approach and landing.

As far as crew rest areas/bunks go…again on Long haul/very long haul flights you often need all of those to allow the flight to legally operate to destination.

Yeah, there's no difference between this and a passenger being asleep. You don't know them, and they have to get home somehow!

Oh gosh, that poor lady. How undignified.

You would think they have a procedure and body bag a closed off area- something to protect and preserve the body to some degree.

Upsetting for the passengers too. Were there no empty rows…

Agree. My dad was in a hospital room and the guy beside him died and it was some time before the nurses came for him. My dad was hysterical and had to be given a tranquilizer and moved. My dad was always so cool and collected and logical. This triggered something probably he himself hadn´t realised he would feel. The same happened to my mum years later and she was as cool as a cucumber. My car came to a halt in a traffic jam at an accident site and at the other side of my car door was the body covered with a sheet. I had to conciously calm this wave of panic coming over me because I was driving and had my daughter with me. The policeman looked straight at me, I think he knew what was going on. We never know how we will react.

Very odd that if there were spare seats they didn't offer the people sitting next to the dead person to move seats. I'd have asked to move.

Space is at such a premium on planes, though, that to keep a space for the few times a year (I would guess) where this happens across every longhaul plane in the world would be difficult.

ETA: I assume crew would want to minimise carrying the body past lots of passengers also, so the best place would be close to where the death happened.

It’s rare..

Never happened on a flight I was on in my working days, and in that time only flew with two crew who had had it on flights they were on.

Some discussion in the link below..

https://johnmjennings.com/how-often-do-passengers-die-on-airplane-flights/

My first thought was it must have been a full flight - I do lots of long haul flights and it is amazing how many of them don't have any spare seats. However, in the article it says there are spare seats. Very strange.

I suppose the difference is that the airline couldn't do anything about the woman dying. They could have handled what happened subsequently better.

Thanks @notimagain - one death every 40,000 flights makes it clear why having a special space would not make sense.

Well it says she was a large lady, maybe he didn't want to push past a dead body in a confined space.

That sounds awful - makes you also appreciate even more how brave the emergency services are - facing these sights so frequently.

Poor woman is also being fat shamed in death. It never ends does it!

According a a cabin crew friend I always check these things with, they'll sometimes place the deceased in one of the toilets and lock it, but if it's correct that the lady was too large to manoeuvre that may not have been possible

The bit I really don't understand is that, if as the passenger said there were spare seats, why others weren't moved around so nobody would have to go through what they did

On that basis alone this doesn't appear to make much sense and I suspect there's missing detail somewhere

that is upsetting for the crew as well, the fact that this man is now complaining

Why wasn't she left in her original seat?

And yet it seems that Singapore at least used to: https://simpleflying.com/singapore-airlines-airbus-a340-500-corpse-cupboards-history/

@Puzzledandpissedoff

if as the passenger said there were spare seats, why others weren't moved around so nobody would have to go through what they did

Fair question, I know at many airlines without any doubt they would have been moved if seats were available, even if it meant moving them to another zone/cabin.

On that basis alone this doesn't appear to make much sense and I suspect there's missing detail somewhere

Maybe, but TBH knowing the reputation that airline has in some quarters maybe not.

I work for a long haul UK airline and have done for over 25 years.
I’ve only had 2 deaths where we haven’t diverted during that time.
Our procedure is to lay the deceased at the bulkhead on the floor, cover with blankets and try to keep things as discreet and respectful as possible.
I simply do not believe for a single second that if there were spare seats, that they wouldn’t have moved the man and anyone else from the seats next to the deceased lady.

Absolutely no way would a body be put in the flight deck or crew rest ( crew rest is usually either up or down a flight of stairs anyway)

It’s incredibly distressing for the crew, who will have been performing CPR one minute or consoling family members and then the next be expected to be out on cart serving people breakfast.

Interesting, thanks!

I note that they were specifically for the longest haul flights...

In 2004, Singapore Airlines' Airbus A340-500s were no standard aircraft. Indeed, they were operated on the world's first- and second-longest routes: Singapore to Los Angeles and Singapore to New York. When Singapore Airlines started operating the Airbus A340-500 to New York, this route was deemed the world's longest - 9,500NM (15,300 km), translating into an 18- to 19-hour flight.

...were probably never used and haven't been in place for 10 years or so.

Back then, cabin crew trained to work on Singapore Airlines Airbus A340-500 were instructed to use the corpse cupboard in case no free row of seats was available in the cabin to lay out the deceased person and cover their body. However, according to an airline's spokesman, the cupboard was likely never used until these long-haul aircraft exited the fleet between the end of 2013 and the start of 2014.

Absolutely awful. Traumatising for the passengers and undignified for the deceased.
Can only think the staff didn’t have sufficient training in how to deal with the situation and didn’t think of the effect on passengers.

That’s crazy! I used to work for a ME airline. Protocol was to wheel the body to the back of the plane in the galley for the rest of the flight.

There's no way I'd sit next to a dead body for 4 minutes let alone 4 hours.

Why did they move her from her own seat to another one? The man could have had her original seat if there were no spares (which there were anyway apparently). He could have moved seats so this looks like a bid to get in the news and demand compensation.