ASK A MORTICIAN– Corpses on a Plane!

Sail away, sail away, sail away.

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***CREDITS***

Mortician: Caitlin Doughty
Research & Writing: Louise Hung
Flying Kitten Titles: Oliver Franklin Anderson

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Deathxpert Opinion: How to Move (and Fly) a Body”

US Funerals Online info

“Traveling with Crematory Remains”

American Airlines Cargo

Southwest Airlines Cargo

Delta Cargo

Alaska Airlines, Transporting Human Remains

“State-by-State Embalming Requirements”

[dusty_bar_cat]

I have a friend named ty, who says at his funeral, he wants it to be “tie dye”themed because “ty died”

[shellyrourke]

I drove my dad's cremated remains home from the crematorium in the front seat with a seatbelt on. I played his favourite tunes and sang my head off to him. It was his car. He wouldn't have liked that.

[vqqioxz]

When my dog passed away, my family lived overseas. I told my family I wanted to bury him there. I put him in a wooden trunk I had used for camp when I was little. I put some Lilly’s on top. We had to tell the airline, of course. I was really surprised though, when I got him at the destination from baggage to find the Lilly’s still on top. They treated him with such respect.

[carolcoates]

I heard a story of someone who became seriously ill on a flight. When the steward asked if there was a doctor on board, twenty six hands were raised. They were all travelling to a medical conference. Lucky or what?!

[sheakillinit]

My father requested we play Highway to Hell at his funeral. We also brought his motorcycle in and put a toy skeleton on it. Not all funerals have to be sad and depressing!!

[kait_herring]

I really asked myself "don't the boxes need holes so they can breathe?".. it's been a LONG week

[cactuskaktus]

"..no you don't understand, just open the urn."
"Mam, there's no need for that."
"Please just open it, and sniff it. It was his last wish."
"I'm calling security."

[nilanou]

I once was on a flight where the captain announced we had a fallen US Marine who'd died in combat on board, transporting him to his final resting place. When we landed and were pulling into the gate, our plane was given a water cannon salute, with trucks spraying crossed streams over the plane as it pulled in. Once at the gate, were asked to remain in our seats as a Marine, who'd been on board escorting his fallen brother, stood and spoke on the PA, thanking the other passengers for being escorts for this Marine as well, and bringing him home to his family. We remained seated as the Marine escort was deplaned first, and those on the side where cargo is unloaded were able to watch his American flag draped casket be unloaded from the plane by several Marines in full dress uniforms. It was an extremely moving, memorable experience.

[GAG]

I was a pilot, and one of my pilot friends picked up extra cash flying the dead. Basically the Funeral Home would charter the plane and the 'passenger' was a corpse. One time he was having a problem of some sort and air traffic control asked him a common question: "How many souls on board?". It had never occurred to him previously, there were two persons on the flight but only one soul.

[erikaclark]

A person died on an international flight I was on when I was a teen and he was covered up with a blanket by the window. I felt really bad for his wife (?) because of the disgusted whispers and looks she got while we left. She stood there trying to block the view with silent tears. Some people were... personally offended, or so their reactors seemed. I really doubt being dead was part of their travel itinerary. Poor lady. I've seen a handful being loaded into cargo on various flights.

[austenmidland]

Between makeup tutorials and sneezing chickens, I have somehow found myself watching every single video here

[DisneyDancer]

Fun fact: that's why pilots do "soul counts" instead of body counts. In case the plane crashes and no one survives, if there were already corpses on the plane and you were only doing body counts, it would be mildly confusing where those extra bodies came from.

Also, if you're going to scatter ashes from a plane...make sure you have a funnel with a looonnnggg neck.

[seans]

When I last flew to Japan a man died on our flight. The airline said normally they landed when things of this nature happened (a fatal heart attack), but we were over the Pacific Ocean, so obviously that wasn't going to happen until we landed in Haneda. We were actually in the row across from where they laid the man. The only real “inconvenience” I had with that whole situation was my three year old wanting to poke the corpse, so my fiancé and I had to take turns sleeping to make sure our son wasn't disrespectful to the departed. Though, we took a three year old on a flight from Boston to Tokyo, we weren't really getting any sleep anyway.

[aesthedicc]

My family friends mother died and they got her cremated and were planning to take her ashes back to Greece (where she was from) they realized they needed the cremation certificate the night before and they couldn't find it. They did find one cremation certificate though... it was the family dog that had recently died and was cremated. So long story short they had to pretend their mother's ashes were the dogs ashes while getting the urn checked. We all think she would've found it hilarious

[jenniferchafe]

My Mom and I took my Grandmother’s cremated remains from Canada back to England. We made jokes at every security check that it was the only time Grammy didn’t need a passport. I think some people were mortified but Grammy would of thought it was hilarious.

[ghillbilt]

When my father died we tried to have him brought home on a plane, but being a large man it was cost prohibitive. So my nephew and I rented a Uhaul truck and we drove him from Florida back to Kansas. I am proud that I was able to bring him home and show him this final act of love. He was a great man.

[MrReviewThis]

I still have my 19 year old cats ashes, they sit in my room on my bookshelf. I thought about spreading them but then realized her favorite place was with me so I guess I just have them now...

[sarahbowman]

Once had a guy die mid Atlantic on a flight I was on... The cabin crew fastened him in his seat, covered him with a blanket and were awesomely respectful and discrete.

[CarolAnn-ghfl]

When my ex husband died, his GF shipped some of his cremated remains so my children could scatter them. I did not want one of them would have to sign for the package at home, so I asked her to send them to my work.
What I did not expect was for a large UPS box covered in bright orange tape saying "HUMAN REMAINS" to be set on my desk by our receptionist.

[ladywentworth]

I'm so happy to have found this episode! I'm a flight attendant and I wonder if I've flown with a dead body in the cargo before. The cockpit crews would keep it as a confidential information and would not tell us.

I had a passenger who passed away in flight due to heart attack, I was there with him from beginning till the end. He was seated in business class, with a flat bed. The flight was from New York to Hong Kong. We tried everything we could, cpr and administered epinephrine shot after the aed could not detect his heart rhythm.

We didn't bother to put him in a body bag, we tucked him in his seat with his duvet up to his shoulders, reclined the seat back and propped him up with some pillows. Luckily no bodily fluid came out of him, we had about 6 hours until we reached our destination. I worked on the aisle where he's seated and I wasn't afraid, it was just strange because that was the first time I dealt with death and a dead body.

Also, we are not allowed to pronounce our passenger as "deceased" and we must treat the "unresponsive" passenger with respect, that's why we didn't cover his face with the duvet.