If someone dies on a long haul flight where do they keep the body?

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Czech_Mark

When I was a flight attendant for TWA I had an Iranian lady die in Business Class 1/2 way through the flight from London to St. Louis, she was a rather large woman. We were taking the polar route and had no where to land. She died in an aisle after colapsing from a heart attack. When someone dies inflight it is mandatory that the flight crew perform CPR on the victim until licensed medical staff has taken over. We were fortunate enough to have a doctor on board who came forward to assist and after about 30 minutes of CPR the physician declared the lady dead or else we would have had to continue giving life support to her until we landed, cold body and all. Once she was declared dead and we stopped giving life support she was then a safety hazzard as she was blocking the exit aisle. It took 3 of us to drag her lifeless body to the first class cabin where we stowed her between the last two rows in first class as she was too heavy to lift and strap into a seat. We covered her with a blanket and continued the flight to our destination. After someone dies on an airplane the aircraft is then impounded for some time. I have heard industry stories where people have been stowed in lavatories, closets or left in their seat. But technically speaking from the airline terms "no one dies inflight" unless there is someone there medicaly licensed to declare them dead. I have even heard of people dying before take off and removed from the aircraft and left in the jetway (the passenger boarding bridge)

The body is kept in the seat, covered as if asleep, strapped in . The passenger moved if even to another class if not a relative and normal service continues.

Mike R

They will most likely make an emergency landing.

stiletto

JC is right, they don't anything with body. They just put a blanket over the body as if that passenger is asleep and continue to work as normal ...here's an article about a transatlantic to London in Dec. 2006 http://english.newslab.ru/news/208513.. Sucks to be the person sitting next to the corpse.

apuleuis

They will do an emergency landing.

julie_ramrattan2003

They will most likely cover up the body with a blanket and make an emergency landing.

hp25

If they die while the flight is in the air, sometimes they will put the body in one of the loo's and keep it there until everyone else is off the plane. It sounds harsh, but it needs to be kept out of sight of passengers as many would find it distressing seeing a dead body particularly when they're in an enclosed space 30,000ft in the air. If they cant keep it in the loo, they may well put it in a first class cabin on a flat bed and cover it over, depending on how enclosed the area is.

hopem

You know the juice cart?...

tbugs

They strap a parachute on it and toss it out the door. The New York Times reported this two weeks ago and CNN spoke with the person whose front yard the corpse landed in. This was in Minneapolis.

Misshopeful

In the carrier with the luggage?

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