BA upgrades corpse
First class seat for dead passenger
By Lester Haines
Published Monday 19th March 2007
A first class British Airways passenger got short shrift from cabin
crew after expressing his displeasure at waking up to find them
maneovering a corpse into the seat next to him, the Daily Mirror
reports.
The elderly woman had apparently died shortly after take-off, and
was quickly upgraded from economy to first class
Building firm boss Paul Trinder, who'd stumped £3,000+ for the
Boeing 747 flight from Delhi to London, recounted: "I woke up to
see the crew manoeuvering what looked like a sack of potatoes into
the seat. But slowly through the darkness I realised it was a body.
The corpse was strapped into the seat but because of turbulence it
kept slipping down on to the floor. It was horrific. The body had
to be wedged in place with lots of pillows.
"Then the relatives were allowed to sit in First Class and spent
the next five hours wailing and weeping. When I complained, I was
told to 'get over it'. I was also told BA's corpse policy would
remain 'unless I've got any better ideas'. In future, if I have a
choice of airlines on a particular route I'll choose anyone but
BA."
BA told the Daily Mirror: "We apologise, but our crew were working
in difficult circumstances and chose the option they thought would
cause least disruption."
