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
Perhaps it’s time to bring back the amenity that Singapore Airlines devised to handle this situation on their ultra-long-haul flights in the Airbus 340-500 – the corpse cupboard: https://simpleflying.com/singapore-airlines-airbus-a340-500-corpse-cupboards-history/
The airline installed a discreet locker next to one of the aircraft’s exit doors to hold an average-sized human body. Special straps were also provided to secure the body and prevent it from being moved by turbulence or during landing.
Accurate. Are you a summarization bot?
Yes, but it’s operating on a biological substrate.
A trained neural network of sorts
I think he might just be some guy. Possibly the 3rd in a long line of guys.
Bless Singapore and their innovation in shoving humans bodies into cupboards, from domestic workers in apartments to corpses on airplanes
I’ve sat next to many a passenger who was dead from the neck upwards.
I’d sit next to a dead person on every damn flight if I had the choice.
There’s bodily fluids that leak out afterwards. I don’t think you’d want that to splash on you during turbulence.
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.
Maybe she was Elvis
“Hey, this is MY armrest.” shoves corpse
I think that’s a fairly reasonable solution. The problem is asking people though. Can’t really blast on the loud speaker that someone died, hard to go seat by seat.
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
Probably because after they do, they crash and it will generally be assumed the crash is what killed them.
It’s going to be real weird when self driving cars finally work and sometimes cars just pull up with a dead body in it.
See Harry Chapin.
The news just doesn’t report shit like that.
I knew someone that was orphaned in high school because his dad had a heart attack, crashed, killed himself and his wife.
I used to work with a lady who, upon missing her shift, the next day the managers were all going around quietly telling staff that she died on her way to work, that she’d had a massive stroke while driving. New fear unlocked that day. But yeah I guess you don’t hear about it on the news because the may just assume car accident is what causes the fatalities.
Wait until they figure out self driving cars enough for grandmas to show up dead at places.
Yeah no I knew someone that had that happen, he managed to park on the emergency lane and it took a while for someone to figure out that he was dead.
I lost the first car I’d purchased outright to a "dead behind the wheel’ driver, and I wasn’t even in it!
A friend had borrowed the car, just a couple weeks after buying it, and was stopped at an intersection - An older man had a heart attack, barreled through the intersection, hit a pole, and then kept turning and t-boned my friend in my car. No injuries (other than the dead guy) but my car was totaled. Insurance payout was super!
I wonder if it’s one of those kinds of deaths that just makes the local paper unless they take out a lot of people with them.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7847085/ article discussing 21 fatal heart attacks while driving during a period of time in china
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23343022/ article discussing the results of the Finnish Road Accident Investigation Teams (RAITs) on fMVAs in Finland during 2008-2009. 11% of these were because of “disease attack.”
Severe injuries may mask the role of an initial disease attack.
These articles make it seem like unless there’s careful investigation after the fact, it’s very difficult to know for sure if illness caused the accident.
So it probably is a daily occurance, depending on how many fatal accidents happen in your country. (and depending on a million other factors, most likely)
So the road toll might not actually be because of cars
deleted by creator
I imagine a contributing factor is that most people who drop dead randomly are of an age where they generally don’t drive, or don’t drive as much.
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.
According the article she came out of the bathroom and collapsed so you can’t just leave her in the aisle to be fair
It is really wild that they didn’t have the other passengers put into new seats even after they asked though
I don’t understand this. Normally they don’t care if you move to a same fare seat.
So why move her to a previously empty seat instead of back to her assigned one?
Oh, ok. To be fair someone has to be standing for people to notice they’ve collapsed.
Slightly unrelated, but last time I vomited during a flight they refused to take the bag and throw it away. I had to sit there for 6 hours, holding an uncloseable plastic bag full of my own vomit. Next to other passengers. Like, I get that it’s technically some kind of hazard waste that flight attendants shouldn’t have to handle, but the alternative is me potentially accidentally spilling it on or near other passengers. I had to carry it off the plane with me like it was my carry-on. It was absolutely ridiculous.
just empty it in the plane bathroom
Damn, I’ve never seen an uncloseable barf bag before. Usually that have those metal tabs at the top to close it up and mitigate the smell. Flying is shitty enough as it is, what an awful experience! Sorry you had to go through that.
Qatar Airways introduces new “corpse class” seating—no upgrades, but plenty of legroom for one.
😿😿😿😿
Can I get more seat room instead of leg room. Wanna lie down for a bit
If the movie Commando has taught me anything, it’s that a dead person covered to look like they are asleep, can make an 8 hour flight without notice.
You just need a blanket and a pillow (and John Matrix).We all have so much to learn from Commando.
I made a ton of extra room in my Camry by ripping the seats out like a goddamn silverback.
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)
Yeah fuck Qatar Air
It really should be policy to allow at least the seat(s) next to the deceased (I understand not moving the body for coroner/investigation reasons, though they did in this case at which point why not put them in a bathroom and guard It you have extras) use any surplus steward seats or those staff seats in the cockpit for employees.
Just basic decency in the event of an extreme circumstance.
deleted by creator
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.
Personally, I’d take the dead person.
dead bodies sometimes shit or urinate themselves. and your just being hotboxed in a plane.
Babies shit and piss themselves constantly.
A baby’s shitty diaper pales in comparison to the recently deceased evacuation of bowels of an adult human.
I rather sit next to a baby than half the people on flights
I hate that your offer is appealing. But only briefly – the baby was never going to win.
Damn it, I’ll take the corpse
Is there an option to turn even more of the other passengers into bodies?
Wait! No, don’t put me on the list -
Yes
I seem to be in the minority, but the baby.
Kids are awesome. Little bundles experiencing new things constantly. It’s fucking cool.
Same. Plus I can tell the parent that they are doing great. Maybe even help somehow, even if it is just to open the snacks.
Right, sure …
Keep in mind, dead people evacuate their bowels. It’s not a mummy type situation, but more of a sitting next to an open, used by concert goers, porta potty situation.
I have bad news for you about babies. And many people make sure to fully evacuate before a flight because they will do anything to avoid that bathroom.
Are you sure because too many times I’ve been on a 2hr flight and there’s a line for the lav the entire time. It’s a mystery I will never understand.
I mean, only sometimes. Stuff kind of comes out of bodies at it’s own pace.
At least this one had the courtesy to go to the toilet first
So do babies. At least the dead person just stinks and isn’t also screaming.
Baby shit =/= Adult shit
Plus they’re easily cleaned and changed.
Baby shit =/= Adult shit
For the parents, no.
A baby is annoying, but they can’t really help it. I can blame the parents for bringing a baby on a long flight, but I can’t get mad at that shit.
Kids on the other hand. I once had 4 unruly kids sitting on the row behind me and they were insane. It was a relatively short flight (6 hours), so a smaller plane with those really thin seats. The plane had the 3-3 configuration of seats, so mom, dad and the 4 kids took up the entire row.
The kids were between 4 and 12 years old. Dad was in the corner sleeping, not giving a fuck. The two older kids (12 and 9 I think) were playing their Switches on the other side of the aisle next to dad. The two younger kids (4 and 7) were behind me with mom. Mom was in the corner with the smallest kid and they were wild. The 7 year old was constantly smashing against their tray and thus my back, kept kicking directly against my back and screaming all the time. The smallest alternated between laughing loudly and crying (shrieking more like). The smallest also stood on the tray, grabbing at my seat and head, diving in between the seat screaming PEEKABOO at full volume directly in my ear. The smallest one would also like to run in the aisle or visit the other kids, but the other one didn’t want to move so the kid snuck in between the other one and my seat.
Mom was trying, but 4 kids on your own is a big ask. About 20 mins before we landed the two younger ones passed out and they were pretty damned cute. But in the end my back hurt, I was exhausted and deaf in one ear.
The annoying part was, the rest of the plane was filled with old people who didn’t make a peep all flight, just sat there and read, listened and slept. But we just had to be in the worst place on the plane. Sitting behind kids may be annoying, but at least they don’t use your back as a punching bag like when you sit in front of them.
A baby is annoying, but they can’t really help it.
I doubt the dead person had much control of the situation either.
Sometimes I am reminded of a book I read as a kid wherein one of the main characters dies and is eventually resurrected. She says that when you die, you don’t lose awareness or move on, you just passively occupy the body without the ability to move (like locked-in syndrome, I guess, but I didn’t know that as a kid and don’t know whether it was even recognized back then). In particular she describes the horrors of her autopsy.
If that were true, I wonder whether the person within the cadaver would be embarrassed to have caused such inconvenience. I know I would.
The smallest also stood on the tray, grabbing at my seat and head, diving in between the seat screaming PEEKABOO at full volume directly in my ear.
I would’ve grabbed the kids arm and traumatised him for life
World’s (or at least, That Plane’s) Worst Dad
Thanks for nothing, Peter.
100% the dead person. I’d rather jump than stay next to the baby.
You do realize it’s still on the ground when you find out who you’re sitting near. Until they’ve closed the doors, you’re completely free to nope the fuck out of there and hope for a later flight.
That’s why they’ll just jump. They won’t be far from the ground.
Yeah, apparently people took my comment seriously.
If autism is a spectrum, you’re still a boolean
Couldn’t have placed the body in the cargo hold or one of the bathrooms? I think passengers wouldn’t have minded being one bathroom down.
Doubtful those are actual options. Bathroom? How are they going to secure the body incase of an emergency? It’ll just be bouncing around in the bathroom. I don’t think the door is strong enough to keep the body from falling out. And access to the cargo hold through the plane is very tight/small. It’s hard enough to be an able body person getting down there. Dragging a body would be next to impossible.
Access to the cargo hold? That’s a myth made up by movies. Checked bags have different security standards for a reason, they’re completely separate from passengers.
That depends on the aircaft. It’s very accessible on the ART42/72.
Was this an ART42/72?
Even if the body was in the aisle seat… Can you imagine hauling a body down the aisle of a fully booked flight?
It sounds like they already moved the body after death. They specifically moved the body to that seat.
I feel like they low key hated that particular couple.
They flew all the way from Melbourne to go to Venice of all places, can’t help but get the mental image of an obnoxious insta couple.
Just put on the seatbelt sign and do a parabolic arc to simulate microgravity. Way easier to nudge a body around then!
Put it in the first class or the crew bunkers. Anywhere but there…
Why not secure it in a flight attendant seat in the back and the flight attendant take the seat next to the living people?
It makes the most sense.
deleted by creator
Excuse me, but movies told me there’s a trap door or tiny elevator to get down there, is that not the case??
Deleted my comment.
After looking into it more; there is access inside, but it’s typically secured with a pressure differential and several locks.
They’d only really access it if absolutely required; for example to fight a fire in the cargo hold.
Bathroom would have been a good solution. Or just move her to a back seat and move the living passengers away. Bizarre they forced a couple to sit beside her.
I don’t think you needed to delete your comments; they were just being cheeky hahaha
Also as a person who has only flown a couple times, I didn’t know there wasn’t a way to the cargo hold (though when I think about it, it makes sense… shit’s pressurized, yo)
