# How is a human corpse brought through the airport onto a flight? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 26, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-human-corpse-brought-through-the-airport-onto-a-flight/830243 "2019-02-26T14:43:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2019, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-human-corpse-brought-through-the-airport-onto-a-flight/830243/21 "2019-02-28T15:25:23Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > That implies the assumption that nobody has died in an airplane where there was a doctor licensed to practice in the landing location, which pretty much leaves out internal flights in any country where doctors aren’t locally licensed and any locations where a doctor doesn’t need a local license in order to perform emergency procedures or declare someone dead. It’s not so much an urban legend as a case of beer-fueled speculation based on even more assumptions than beer. I assume it’s the same as the first aid advice to not stop resuscitation efforts until a doctor has had a look. A non-medical person is probably not qualified to state a person is dead unless it’s really really obvious. And the last thing you want is to find out that you gave up on a person a bit too early. So, at the least - do no harm. In all those movies, don’t they ask “is there a doctor on board?” ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2019, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-human-corpse-brought-through-the-airport-onto-a-flight/830243/22 "2019-02-28T16:05:51Z")
I can tell you that they really do call for a doctor on board airline flights. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2019, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-human-corpse-brought-through-the-airport-onto-a-flight/830243/23 "2019-02-28T16:38:58Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Funeral homes transport bodies every day, and the airlines have routine procedures. Yeah, I worked in a funeral home in Oakland once, and several times I was assigned to drive bodies across the bay to SFO. Actually, as I recall, I believe I took them to some kind of special transport company, not directly to the airport. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2019, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-human-corpse-brought-through-the-airport-onto-a-flight/830243/24 "2019-02-28T16:57:14Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > TSA will want to pat down the corpse. > > Empty its pockets into the tray. > > 😉 I think even the TSA has requirements for treating the dead with respect. There’s a stiff penalty involved. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2019, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-human-corpse-brought-through-the-airport-onto-a-flight/830243/25 "2019-02-28T17:43:39Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > There is no way they would let a hearse go air-side at my passenger terminal. Either the body will go on a cargo plane, or it will be transferred to airport staff passenger-side. No, sorry, I didn’t mean at the passenger terminal, the two times I saw a casket being loaded and unloaded, they taxied the plane to the end of the building away from places a passenger might see. Again, this was pre 911 so I wouldn’t be surprised if procedures changed since then ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2019, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-human-corpse-brought-through-the-airport-onto-a-flight/830243/26 "2019-02-28T18:36:01Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Funeral homes transport bodies every day, and the airlines have routine procedures. The casket is just another piece of cargo in the hold. > And, just like the other luggage, they sometimes get lost. Great-Aunt Mehetabel died while visiting relatives on the other coast. Just before the funeral,the family had the casket opened for a private viewing, and to their surprise found a four-star admiral in full dress uniform. Making the best of a bad situation, the family buried the admiral, in the hope that Great-Aunt Mehetabel would receive a twenty-one gun salute… ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2019, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-human-corpse-brought-through-the-airport-onto-a-flight/830243/27 "2019-03-01T01:06:32Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Cite: a conversation I once had with a flight attendant at a party about 25 years ago, accompanied by more beer than I can handle now. 🙂 Are you sure you haven’t confused that conversation with [the final scene from Midnight Cowboy?](https://youtu.be/S24yQQMuCLk?t=389) ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2019, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-human-corpse-brought-through-the-airport-onto-a-flight/830243/28 "2019-03-01T01:46:10Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > I think even the TSA has requirements for treating the dead with respect. There’s a stiff penalty involved. I see what you did there. ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2019, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-human-corpse-brought-through-the-airport-onto-a-flight/830243/29 "2019-03-01T02:14:33Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > TSA will want to pat down the corpse. > > Empty its pockets into the tray. > > 😉 Only if it’s _all_ dead. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2019, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-human-corpse-brought-through-the-airport-onto-a-flight/830243/30 "2019-03-01T11:26:33Z")
When I worked for the mortuary in the late 90’s, we’d take the casket (sometimes a simple wooden box) to a location about a mile away from the airport. It was taken directly from our van with a forklift and we’d sign some paperwork to confirm the transfer. According to my friend, who’d been doing this for years, they transported the casket in another van to the plane. Sometimes, if the flight was delayed, we’d have to return and pick up the casket after a certain amount of time had passed. This was pre 9/11, so the morticians would certify that only the deceased was in the casket or box. The caskets that were used had locks. I don’t remember if here were tape seals also or not. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-human-corpse-brought-through-the-airport-onto-a-flight/830243/31 "2019-03-06T21:58:38Z")
Need answer fast? ---
**Author:** ![justmeetee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@justmeetee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justmeetee)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-human-corpse-brought-through-the-airport-onto-a-flight/830243/32 "2019-03-08T17:33:36Z")
Little off topic but…I was a truck driver before retirement and was once told by dispatch when loading a load of frozen food to leave three feet of space at the back of the trailer. Then was sent to a funeral home to return another driver that had died on the job back home. It’s a cold hearted way to look at it but at that point you’re just freight. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-human-corpse-brought-through-the-airport-onto-a-flight/830243/33 "2019-03-09T03:30:16Z")
So, does TSA make the deceased take off their shoes? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-human-corpse-brought-through-the-airport-onto-a-flight/830243.md?page=1)