Complaint over Dead Passenger for Flight Duration!

[upinwath]

I have to say I would be concerned about possible hygene/health issues.

Given that the other passengers had no idea of the cause of death I can see why they would be worried.

[rubydazzler]

Although you can sympathise with the family of the diseased and the shock they must have had, I'm surprised at the airline's attitude to the other passenger. It's not very good customer service, is it?

 

He'd paid £3,000 for the trip and was a regular traveller with them. I'd expect a bit more consideration and some recompense if I had to travel near a corpse with the family ululating around it. Surely they could have woken him first and asked him to move to another part of the plane before they brought the body through?

[Kingmaker2]

Why are people so self centred?

 

If his mother had died under any circumstances, can you really imagine him expecting any different treatment to that this family received?

 

and as for corpse cupboards!! who is qualified to decide who goes in one of those?!?!

 

I tend to agree here, although having a dead passenger on a flight is not a unique event it is still a pretty rare one.

When events like these happen you have to expect the usual protocol to go out of the window. The BA staff probably had the best interests of the family and the majority of the passengers at heart, If that ruffled a few business class passengers then so be it.

Mr Trinder sounds to me like a little bit of a wimp, has he never seen a corpse before? To suggest that he might get an infection from a body that was decaying was a little over the top.

Imagine if the plane got hijacked would Trinder complain to BA that he should get a refund because his sleep was interupted by frightened cabin crew.

BA were right, Mr. Trinder should get over it and put it down to an unfortunate incident, certainly no need for him to take the story to the newspapers. I wonder if he thought how the aggrieved family might feel in they happened to be reading this story, but then again a guy like him would probably always put himself first.

[Minesadouble]

I agree - If he was that distressed . I'm sure they would have moved him had he asked ..

[muddywolf]

if i was that guy i'd be sueing them for trauma! i'd be having nightmares about sitting on planes next to dead people!

You must have been on the flight too then, I cant see where it says he was next to the corpse. Its sad about you attempting to sue if it was you, would you attempt to sue the dead womans family if suing the airline failed

 

Like minesadobule said, im sure he could have been moved if he asked, it seems more like a case of complain to get some of his expensive travel fair back. If it was me, I would ask myself where else could the body go ? I know if it was my family member who died onboard, I wouldnt like the thought of them being put into a locker, and would accept that things like that could happen.

[Henrietta]

To me its not so much about where the body went.. its more the fact that the complaining passenger wasn't 'invited' to move after having the situation explained to him! Saying that though I also find it improbable that he didn't say something about the situation and ask to be moved - was he told there was no spare seat for him to move to? Or that there was no other seat in First Class?

 

I find it unlikely that many FM's would be comfortable being sat near/opposite a corpse and a distressed family for a six hour flight (or however long). Shame they were unable to curtain off the area at all, one would assume they were unable to as you'd hope to H that they'd try

 

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[Kingmaker2]

oh my god, i wasn't sure if this was a joke. are the airline crew qualified to pronounce someone dead? i wouldn't have thought so, so surely they should have landed and got medical advice. as it says in that article, if it only happens 1 in 3.6m passengers, surely they could have the decency to land the plane when it is such a long flight.

 

if i was that guy i'd be sueing them for trauma! i'd be having nightmares about sitting on planes next to dead people!

 

Landing the plane would have been the captain's decision and no one else's.

Many factors would have been needed for the captain to decide whether to prematurely land or not, not least of all getting landing permission from an international airport.

As for sueing BA, what for?

If your plane gets hijacked or someone has a heart attack next to you, you will probably suffer trauma but you don't sue the airline for that. As I stated before when unfortunate events like this happen passengers have to expect protocol to go out of the window and that makes no difference whether your in economy, first or business class.

[Kingmaker2]

To me its not so much about where the body went.. its more the fact that the complaining passenger wasn't 'invited' to move after having the situation explained to him! Saying that though I also find it improbable that he didn't say something about the situation and ask to be moved - was he told there was no spare seat for him to move to? Or that there was no other seat in First Class?

 

.

 

Well there would definitley have been some spare seats in normal economy class, if he was so traumatised I'm sure he could have made the ulimate sacrifice and downgraded.

[Twiglet]

I understand this guy's problem and am by no means distressed by dead bodies myself, that doesn't mean some people aren't. There are several issues in this story whether people like it or not.

 

1. Some people are distressed by dead bodies

2. Dead bodies smell, whether they have been deceased 1 hour or 24, and being in a warm cabin for 5 hours won't have helped.

3. She could have died from an infectious disease.

4. I have no doubt that BA staff did the best thing under the circumstances - but they should have offered the nearby passengers alternative seats and compensation in the form of travel vouchers or partial refund as a 'good will' gesture.

[Bonny]

When I flew to the States we were about half way through the flight when there was an announcement "If there is a Doctor on-board, please contact a member of the flight crew as soon as possible"

 

Then about an hour later "If there is a nurse on board .... "

 

Then when we landed we were all told to remain seated whilst the medics boarded .....

 

I honestly don't know how I would have reacted if I knew there was a deceased person on the same row. I was (naturally) in economy class, but I guess I would have expected the cabin crew to discreetly try to move the person to first class and to an area that could be curtained off if possible or to be located in the quietest place - even if that meant asking other first class passengers to move. If i'd have been the bloke I would have asked to be moved - so that the family could be located together and have some privacy.