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.
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.
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.
So do babies. At least the dead person just stinks and isn’t also screaming.
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.
Eh, still beats a living stranger.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Wait until they figure out self driving cars enough for grandmas to show up dead at places.
