A flight attendant has revealed what happens if someone dies on a plane.
Barbara Bacilieri, known online as Barbie Bac, worked as a flight attendant for 14 years.
Now a travel influencer, she often shares videos about her flight experiences with her 4.9m TikTok fans and 2.8m YouTube subscribers.
The 33-year-old explained what happens on a flight if a passenger suddenly passes away.
“A death on a flight is not too common, but it does happen sometimes,” she told Need To Know.
“That’s why airlines have a special procedure for this.
“So, imagine you’re flying to Rome and you suspect the passenger next to you isn’t actually asleep.
“You call the flight attendant, and she also thinks he’s not sleeping.
“First, she’ll alert the crew, who will then alert the captain.
“Meanwhile, she’ll check his vital signs and probably start CPR.
“Once this happens, the crew will ask if there’s a doctor among the passengers.
“If one appears, they’ll attend to the passenger.
“Most airlines don’t have their own doctor on the plane, but there’s almost always a healthcare worker among the passengers.
“Remember, no one officially dies on a plane because they can’t declare someone dead until we reach the ground and a doctor confirms it.”
Barbara, who comes from Argentina and lives in Spain, said there are two options if a person dies on board.
She said: “You can land at a nearby airport if it affects the safety of the flight or the passengers, or continue to the final destination if everything is under control.
“If we choose the second option, what happens to that passenger next to you? Are they left there for the rest of the flight?
“No, flight attendants will try to move the deceased passenger to an empty row of seats or move the passengers next to them.
“But if there are no empty seats, the dead passenger will be taken to a section of the plane where they’re out of view.
“This once happened on a flight I was on.
“I realised, and a couple of other passengers did too, that someone had died.
“A flight attendant got a sleep mask and put it on the deceased, only covering their eyes, and wrapped them in a blanket to disguise everything.
“It happened on a fairly long flight where most of the passengers were asleep.
“Only those of us who were awake realised what was happening.
“In these situations, flight attendants are bound to be nervous, and what they did on this flight was to be as discreet as possible and reach the destination where someone would then take care of everything.
“A colleague of mine was once on a transatlantic flight when a passenger died and there weren’t any free seats.
“They decided to put the body in the galley, the flight attendants’ kitchen, covered with a blanket.
“The flight continued as scheduled, and my friend had to spend hours with her foot propped up against the body to stop it moving around.
“The worst part was that the rest of the crew had to keep working around her because the passengers had to eat.
“She wasn’t comfortable, but this was the decision made on this flight.
“And did you know that planes can carry coffins in the cargo hold?
“Along with the luggage, bodies are often transported back to their country of origin, and there might be a family member accompanying them on the same flight.
“Some airports, like Amsterdam, have a morgue to receive and prepare bodies before sending them back.”
Barbara added: “I know this topic can be a bit unsettling, and not everyone is comfortable talking about it, but it’s very important to know what happens in these cases.
“Rest assured, the crew is trained to handle any situation, and the passenger’s dignity is always the priority.”
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