British Airways sat corpse in first class

IRiSHMaFIA · Admin Joined: 29 Apr 2006

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”.

“It was a complete mess — they seemed to have no proper plans in place to deal with the situation,” said Trinder, 54, a businessman from Brackley, Northamptonshire.

The woman died during a nine-hour flight on a Boeing 747. Trinder was catching up on sleep when he was woken by a commotion and opened his eyes to see staff manoeuvring the body into a seat.

“I didn’t have a clue what was going on. The stewards just plonked the body down without saying a thing. I remember looking at this frail, sparrow-like woman and thinking she was very ill,” said Trinder.

“She kept slipping under the seatbelt and moving about with the motion of the plane. When I asked what was going on I was shocked to hear she was dead.”

The woman’s daughter and son-in-law arrived soon after and began grieving. Trinder said: “It was terrifying. I put my earplugs in but couldn’t get away from the fact that there was a woman wailing at the top of her voice just yards away. It was a really intense, primal sound.

“I felt helpless. Grief is a very personal thing; it’s not as if there was anything I could do or say.”

Trinder, chief executive of Capital Safety, which makes products for the building industry, holds a BA gold card and travels more than 200,000 miles a year with the airline.

He became particularly concerned about the state of the body. “When you have a decaying body on a plane at room temperature for more than five hours there are significant health and safety risks,” he said.

After the plane landed, those in first class remained on board for an hour before police and a coroner gave the all-clear.

“The police even started interviewing me as a potential witness, although I had no idea what had happened to the woman. I just kept thinking to myself: ‘I’ve paid more than £3,000 for this’,” Trinder said.

When contacted by BA about the complaint, Trinder says he was told he would not be compensated and should “get over” the incident.

BA said the dead woman was taken into first class because the rest of the plane was full.

A spokesman said: “When a customer passes away on board it is always difficult and we apologise for any distress caused.”

He said there were about 10 deaths each year out of 36m passengers.

Other carriers use different procedures. Singapore Airlines has introduced “corpse cupboards” on its Airbus 340-500 aircraft. Cabin crews use the locker if there is no empty row of seats to place a corpse.

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I think the airline should have compensated Tinder for the flight. I'd be in bits if that happened to me, and he had every right to be upset. The airline treated the whole matter extremely poorly with telling him to 'get over it'.

janbo1960 · Joined: 29 Apr 2006

Equal rights for corpses I say!!!!

Gasman59 · Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:43 am Post subject:

I agree Irish, the Airlines could have handled that a bit better and I actually pity that poor man.

Skylace · Admin Joined: 29 Apr 2006 Location: Pittsburgh, PA

I feel sorry for the man most definitely. That had to have been terrible. While I think that airlines don't have things in place for this because it rarely happens I still think they could have handled the afterwards much better.
I also feel so much for the family. For the poor daughter to have her mother die on the plane and have all of her raw emotions just out there. How difficult.

Lostinthestates · Joined: 28 Feb 2007 Location: Bethlehem, USA

Sounds like a pretty horrid experience! I just hope nothing like that will ever happen to me!!!

faceless · admin Joined: 25 Apr 2006

The guy does just need to get over it - it's not like they had much choice is it? I suspect this prick wouldn't have said a word if she'd paid for a first-class ticket.

Skylace · Admin Joined: 29 Apr 2006 Location: Pittsburgh, PA

IRiSHMaFIA · Admin Joined: 29 Apr 2006

I'm sure the fact she didn't have a first class ticket had nothing to do with it at all.

faceless · admin Joined: 25 Apr 2006

IRiSHMaFIA · Admin Joined: 29 Apr 2006

Marcella-FL · Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 3:37 pm Post subject:

I guess the airlines need to start thinking about things like "holding cells" on planes now ... between corpses and people who act up on flight it is probably a good idea to have one ...

faceless · admin Joined: 25 Apr 2006

faceless · admin Joined: 25 Apr 2006

janbo1960 · Joined: 29 Apr 2006

Lucky Ralph Feinnes wasn't on the flight....oooh eerr!!!

eefanincan · Admin Joined: 29 Apr 2006 Location: Canada

I don't know what else they could have done with this poor lady. I mean, you don't want to leave her sitting in her seat between two other people and yet, it's quite a shock to wake up and see a deceased person at the end of your row. I think they did what they could in the situation, but perhaps their customer service skills could be improved a little.

Not sure how I feel about the "Corpse cabins" being used on the other airlines -- but I supposed if I was dead, I wouldn't really give a toss.