# What happens when someone passes away on a plane? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 27, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001 "2010-05-27T22:10:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/21 "2010-05-28T16:09:10Z")
> [@charlie145](#): > > I would imagine that leaving the deceased in their seat is the preferred option but if they void their bowels at the time of death I certainly wouldn’t want to be near them for a long-haul flight. Considering the poor quality of the work the cabin clean up crews do these days, how do you know the next flight your on you’re not sitting on the death seat, aka the shitter seat. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/22 "2010-05-28T16:28:54Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > I dunno, a dead guy would make the ideal passenger to sit beside as far as I’m concerned. Seems it should help reduce the number of parries required to win the armrest battle. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/23 "2010-05-28T16:37:22Z")
So if you die mid-flight and the plane continues to its destination, I’m guessing the airline won’t spring for the body’s return trip? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/24 "2010-05-28T16:37:55Z")
“I don’t _care_ if she’s dead, her tray must be in the upright and locked position for landing.” ---
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/25 "2010-05-28T16:55:00Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > So if you die mid-flight and the plane continues to its destination, I’m guessing the airline won’t spring for the body’s return trip? Why would they? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/26 "2010-05-28T17:05:26Z")
The one time I had this happen in a flight I was on, the airplane continued to destination, the pasengers disembarked _then_ the deceased was removed. Due to limited space the best strategy if someone dies in their seat is to leave them there, covered and tied down. As I understand it a volunteer may be called for to switch seats if those immediately around can’t handle it. OTOH I believe a death in the exit rows may necessitate that the individual be relocated, after all s/he can no longer comply with crew instructions and help open the exits… ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/27 "2010-05-28T17:15:02Z")
I used to fly a lot years ago - I detest flying, esp. after 9/11 and the accompanying b.s. so I avoid it now - and this was not a problem I even considered! It never even entered my head! :eek: Most exciting medical emergency I ever witnessed on a plane was an old woman who was clearly flying for the 1st time and threw up all over herself, the floor, the aisle, everywhere. :rolleyes: If she’d just died instead, there would have been much less stink and mess. Still, I can’t imagine getting on a plane with my husband and exiting the same plane as a widow. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/28 "2010-05-28T17:25:19Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > I listened to that radio show too. Some of suggestions were based on different sized aircraft. Large international aircraft were the ones that were supposed to have more room available. In fact a Jet Star flight attendant was one of the callers and she said they have a different procedure depending on what aircraft they were flying (she said whether it was domestic or international but with that airline that also means a smaller A320 for domestic or an A330 for international.) I can’t remember what the specifics were of the international one but for a domestic flight I think she said they just put sunnies and a blanket on the deceased. What radio show was that? My information came directly from the guy. He and his wife were partners with my wife, my daughter, and me in a trivia quiz on a cruise we took last year. He also flew a lot of charter flights around Europe - he never mentioned doing trans-Atlantic flights. He might have made it up, sure, but he didn’t seem the type. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/29 "2010-05-28T17:26:57Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > I dunno, a dead guy would make the ideal passenger to sit beside as far as I’m concerned. Not if he was in the aisle seat. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/30 "2010-05-28T22:44:42Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Sitting next to the dead doesn’t bother me a bit - I’ve done it on a number of occasions. The dead do not bother me. Well, the _gory_ dead bother me due to mess, odor, icky fluids, etc. but that’s not what we’re taking about here. > > Perhaps you and I could exchange seats? Hmm, sit next to a corpse or a small child? [QUOTE=IAmNotSpartacus] Why would they? [/QUOTE] It’s good PR and it allows them to skirt the issue of a refund? How much does it cost to ship a corpse by air? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/31 "2010-05-28T22:52:14Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > How much does it cost to ship a corpse by air? Plane, or trébuchet? ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/32 "2010-05-28T23:32:00Z")
If you read websites like [Fark](http://www.fark.com/cgi/comments.pl?IDLink=2679458&hl=British-Airways-passenger-told-to-get-over-it-after-corpse-is-placed-next-to-his-first-class-seat), you remember stories like [this](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-420484/BA-passengers-share-class-cabin-dead-traveller.html) ---
**Author:** ![Drew\_Kit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Drew\_Kit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drew_Kit)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/33 "2010-05-28T23:59:54Z")
Someone recently tried to board a dead relative onto a flight from Liverpool to Germany, by putting them in sunglasses and a wheelchair and pretending they were asleep. > **[BBC News - Women try to take body on plane at Liverpool airport](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8604663.stm)** > > Police arrest two women after they try to take the body of a dead relative on to a plane at Liverpool John Lennon Airport. Cheapskates, why I die I want to be flown to Brazil or somewhere else I’ve never been before. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/34 "2010-05-29T00:52:44Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > What radio show was that? My information came directly from the guy. He and his wife were partners with my wife, my daughter, and me in a trivia quiz on a cruise we took last year. He also flew a lot of charter flights around Europe - he never mentioned doing trans-Atlantic flights. He might have made it up, sure, but he didn’t seem the type. Sorry, that wasn’t very clear. I quoted you to counter your statement that options 2 to 4 wouldn’t be possible or practical. I think it depends on the aircraft type. The radio show I referred to was the one the OP listened to, the Hamish and Andy Show. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/35 "2010-05-29T01:23:53Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I don’t know whether the family got her fare back. Who are we kidding.. [airline executive] We arrived safely and on time, \ did not authorize or participate in the early debarkation of Mrs. Smiths spirit requiring additional services to deal with the body she left behind. [/airline executive] ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/36 "2010-05-29T01:28:57Z")
Not a plane, but one of my grandmothers died on a train. Sadly, she was travelling from California to Texas to visit us. I _think_ she died somewhere in Arizona. Had a sudden heart attack and was gone before she even hit the floor, they said. I was only 8 years old at the time and never knew the logistics of the situation. I’m guessing there would be more options on a train than a plane. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/37 "2010-05-29T01:57:35Z")
If the body does not fit under the seat or in the overhead compartment you will be charge for checked baggage. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/38 "2010-05-29T02:02:07Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > If the body does not fit under the seat or in the overhead compartment you will be charge for checked baggage. Doubly apt if the person had ever been called an “old bag” while alive. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/39 "2010-05-29T03:15:41Z")
Do not the recently dead crap themselves? ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001/40 "2010-05-29T03:57:52Z")
If it’s a US airline, I bet everybody gets their seat price jacked up and told that the extra charge is for NOT sitting next to the corpse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-someone-passes-away-on-a-plane/541001.md?page=3)