Summary
A couple on a Qatar Airways flight from Melbourne to Doha was forced to sit next to a deceased passenger for four hours after she collapsed and died mid-flight.
The flight crew moved the woman’s body to an empty seat beside them and denied their request to change seats.
Qatar Airways apologized but did not offer the couple support after the incident.
The couple, en route to Venice, criticized the airline’s handling of the situation but are trying to continue their trip despite the distressing experience.
In his autobiography Ozzy Osborne related a story about the guy next to him dying on a flight. He informed the flight attendant who gave him the choice of moving seats or staying put with free drinks for the remainder of the flight, so he stayed in place and got blasted out of his mind.
Joke’s on Ozzy if that was an international flight, you get free drinks on those whether or not someone next to you dies
What? I flew Rome to New York and everyone got a tiny water bottle for the entire flight and all other drinks (including more water) were crazy expensive
Maybe it’s different when you’re starting in the States, but every international flight I’ve been on has served at least two meals and complimentary drinks.
If there’s even the slightest chance that something could be shittier in the United States come on the answer is yes.
No, I’m saying all of my international flights that take off from the States have had complimentary meals and drinks
This has little to do with a flight being international or not, or where it starts. It depends on the airline and its policies. For example: Aeroflot serves “real” food starting from 3 hour flights. Munich to St Petersburg is 2 hours 55 minutes, so you get a horrible sandwich that haunts me to this day. But at least you get non alcoholic beverages for free. If you fly this route with Lufthansa, you get a warm meal with a free beer.
The flight I was referring to (Rome - New York and back) was a Lufthansa flight, but operated by Eurowings. They are a cheap airline, and it depended on your ticket whether or not food and one beverage was included or not. Most people did not have food included in their ticket, they still could buy some on board for like 18€. Only a small bottle of water was provided, although the flight was 6 hours.
Munich to Brussels is 55 minutes. Lufthansa gives you crackers and a non alcoholic beverage for free, and they struggle for their lives to get that to you in such a short period of time.
Ah, well that makes sense I suppose. Thanks for laying that all out so clearly and setting me straight. For anyone who’s curious, Delta and American Airlines are the ones who served free meals and beverages on the long flights I’ve been on
No more fighting for the armrest, no snoring, no chit chat? Well…
On the other hand, if body odor bothers you…
In four hours and in a relatively cool room, with adequate ventilation, that’s not really a problem. It’s not like they picked a decomposing corpse before take off and stuffed it there.
Worst case scenario order a coffee and leave it on it.
It’s not the decomposition, it’s the bladder and bowels slowly emptying themselves!
Nice one. Counterpoint, it seems the person was fresh out of the restroom.
(I feel the need to say it, but I’m not actually that serious about sitting near a corpse for hours)
I’d sit next to a dead person on every damn flight if I had the choice.
I feel like if they had asked for volunteers to sit next to the body they would have gotten some. It’s morbid, yes, but on a practical level it’s more comfortable than being squished next to a living stranger.
Instincts, man. People here lack them. Don’t hang out next to a dead body of someone who just randomly collapsed, especially on something like a plane which can experience bad turbulence.
Well, she did die in the bathroom, so maybe her bowels are emptied?
She could bleed out of her mouth, nose, or other orifices depending on how she died, and people have a lot of blood in them. Also pee, vomit
Cover her with blankets.
Blankets aren’t waterproof. And bodies that are dead are very floppy, trash bags can be punctured when they shift around.
Eh, still beats a living stranger.
On a related note, why don’t more people just drop dead while driving a car? Like I can’t think of a single story that I’m aware of that went “yeah he had a heart attack and then ran the car off the road”
I feel like it should be a daily occurrence
Wait until they figure out self driving cars enough for grandmas to show up dead at places.
Does anyone know if there’s actual protocol in these situations?
I actually know someone who died on a plane last year and, while they did at least make an emergency landing at a nearby airport, I’ve never thought about where they kept the body during that time. I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to ask his surviving family that was with him, probably not.
Cover the body, and relocate surrounding passengers, if possible, if you can’t move the body to business class (moving a dead body respectfully is very hard).
Apparently there were free seats elsewhere, the pax should have been offered relocation.
However it’s not clear if the passengers asked. The cabin crew could have been rattled too and forgot.Edit: They apparently asked, I don’t see why they couldn’t move.
I’m interested as to why they moved the body in the first place.
I think the only thing they’re pissed about is the airline didn’t allow them to move seats after they put the woman not in her original seat and probably being forced to stay on the plane longer than needed, potentially missing their connection to Venice, while medics came on board to haul her away.
If the flight wasn’t full and they didn’t allow them to move seats that’s extremely messed up.
Honestly they could’ve secured the body to one of the flight staff seats. If there’s no extra, the flight attendant could sit next to a passenger.
That’s a good point. Wonder why they didn’t just do that?
Cause flight crew are seated next to emergency exits for a reason. Safety > inconvenience
Most of the planes I’ve been on had at least some crew seats tucked into the back and out of the way of the primary exits if I am remembering correctly. There probably is a good reason, such as tripping hazards for the crew doing their work or the seats not really being effective for long term seating and keeping the body in place (I’m thinking of the fold down crew seats).
Flight crew are seated next to emergency exits during landing, they would occupy all crew seats except for any in a crew rest area (which is reached by ladder).
It’s a dead body, it won’t harass you. They might get rigor mortis but decomposition won’t have time to start. Passengers comfort is last priority while balancing a metal tube going 900 km/h though the stratosphere. Some compensation can be arranged when back on the ground.
See above.
Poll:
Would you rather sit next to a dead person or a crying baby for 4 hours on a plane?
Personally, I’d take the dead person.
I seem to be in the minority, but the baby.
Kids are awesome. Little bundles experiencing new things constantly. It’s fucking cool.
