Passengers say they were stuck for four hours at their seats next to a dead body on a Qatar Airways flight from Melbourne to Doha, after a woman who died inflight was placed in the seat next to them.
The deceased passenger collapsed in the aisle after coming out of the restroom and could not be revived. Crew tried to move her in a wheelchair to an empty business class seat, but couldn’t make it down the aisle. So they placed her in an empty seat beside other passengers – who say they were told not to move elsewhere in the cabin. And they had to see the woman’s face when blankets covering her were removed on arrival when medical personnel boarded the aircraft.
These passengers say they are traumatized and complain that the airline hasn’t provided them with counseling. According to Qatar Airways,
First and foremost our thoughts are with the family of the passenger who sadly passed away on board our flight. We apologise for any inconvenience or distress this incident may have caused, and are in the process of contacting passengers in line with our policies and procedures.
When someone dies inflight, and there’s no doctor on board to declare it, are they really dead? And what do you do with the body?
- If the flight isn’t full, crew can move the deceased to an empty row of seats (ideally) or move the passengers who were sitting nearby to other seats. But flights are sometimes full!
- When Singapore Airlines used to operate the Airbus A340, it had a compartment known colloquially as the ‘corpse cupboard’ where a body could be placed and strapped in. The airline says it was never actually used for that purpose (it’s rare that this happens!) before the aircraft left their fleet.
- It doesn’t make sense to use the lavatory for this. The passenger might slide off the toilet at touchdown and wind up on the floor. What if the lavatory door opens inward, how would you even get them out then?
A couple of years ago, a British Airways passenger ranted that when a passenger died on board she wasn’t served her second meal – crew couldn’t make it down the aisle while CPR was being performed there
