A former flight attendant has revealed exactly what happens when someone dies onboard a plane mid-flight, following news this week of an Australian couple forced to sit next to a deceased person for four hours
Cabin crew have revealed the protocol for when someone dies onboard a flight.
Former flight attendant Jay Robert has explained that dealing with an in-flight death is “very stressful” and can often be “traumatic” for everyone involved.
He told HuffPost: “A death on board at 35,000 feet is one of the most feared situations for flight attendants, often because it follows a medical emergency, which is already very stressful to manage. When a medical emergency results in death, it can be a very traumatic experience for everyone on board, especially if the passenger is young.”
Jay’s insight follows news of an Australian couple who had to sit beside a dead woman for hours, after she died on their long-haul flight this week. Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin were on a Qatar Airways flight heading to Venice, from Melbourne, when a woman suddenly collapsed in the aisle after going to the toilet.
“Unfortunately, the lady couldn’t be saved, which was pretty heart-breaking to watch,” Mitchell told A Current Affair.
Crew members then realised there were vacant seats on both sides of the couple, and asked them to move over to make room for the body. The dead woman was placed next to Mitchell and covered in blankets for the remaining four hours of the flight to Doha.
Jay added that a flight attendant’s chances of encountering a death in the sky increases if they work on larger planes that fly on long-haul routes. This is because these flights have more passengers, fewer opportunities to divert, and passengers have to sit down for extended periods of time, which can cause serious health issues.
However, multiple safety measures are implemented onboard to try and limit any fatalities.
Airlines each tend to develop their own emergency medical procedures in compliance with international regulations and guidelines, but they can adjust them to fit the airline’s specific needs. Hence, protocol can vary between airlines, but flight attendants are usually trained to provide life support, inform the pilot and get advice from medical professionals.
All cabin crew known CPR and there are defibrillators onboard planes to use in case an individual stops breathing. Depending on the severity of the situation, the captain will then decided with the airline’s operations centre, whether to continue to the intended destination or to divert to another airport.
According to the Daily Mail, Dr. Paulo Alves, the global medical director of aviation health at MedAire, shared that there are best practices for handling a deceased person’s body with respect while also showing sensitivity to anyone they might have been travelling with.
He revealed that these include covering the body with a blanket and moving it away from other passengers, if possible to do so. If not possible, then the deceased person will remain in their original seat with the seatbelt fastened to prevent movement during the flight.