A community for discussing events around the World
Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed. Sources that have a Low or Very Low factual reporting rating or MBFC Credibility Rating may be removed.
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF 10/19
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
News !news@lemmy.world
Politics !politics@lemmy.world
World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world
For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/
Qatar Airways introduces new "corpse class" seating—no upgrades, but plenty of legroom for one.
😿😿😿😿
Poll:
Would you rather sit next to a dead person or a crying baby for 4 hours on a plane?
Personally, I'd take the dead person.
Keep in mind, dead people evacuate their bowels. It's not a mummy type situation, but more of a sitting next to an open, used by concert goers, porta potty situation.
I have bad news for you about babies. And many people make sure to fully evacuate before a flight because they will do anything to avoid that bathroom.
At least this one had the courtesy to go to the toilet first
So do babies. At least the dead person just stinks and isn't also screaming.
Baby shit =/= Adult shit
Plus they're easily cleaned and changed.
A baby is annoying, but they can't really help it. I can blame the parents for bringing a baby on a long flight, but I can't get mad at that shit.
Kids on the other hand. I once had 4 unruly kids sitting on the row behind me and they were insane. It was a relatively short flight (6 hours), so a smaller plane with those really thin seats. The plane had the 3-3 configuration of seats, so mom, dad and the 4 kids took up the entire row.
The kids were between 4 and 12 years old. Dad was in the corner sleeping, not giving a fuck. The two older kids (12 and 9 I think) were playing their Switches on the other side of the aisle next to dad. The two younger kids (4 and 7) were behind me with mom. Mom was in the corner with the smallest kid and they were wild. The 7 year old was constantly smashing against their tray and thus my back, kept kicking directly against my back and screaming all the time. The smallest alternated between laughing loudly and crying (shrieking more like). The smallest also stood on the tray, grabbing at my seat and head, diving in between the seat screaming PEEKABOO at full volume directly in my ear. The smallest one would also like to run in the aisle or visit the other kids, but the other one didn't want to move so the kid snuck in between the other one and my seat.
Mom was trying, but 4 kids on your own is a big ask. About 20 mins before we landed the two younger ones passed out and they were pretty damned cute. But in the end my back hurt, I was exhausted and deaf in one ear.
The annoying part was, the rest of the plane was filled with old people who didn't make a peep all flight, just sat there and read, listened and slept. But we just had to be in the worst place on the plane. Sitting behind kids may be annoying, but at least they don't use your back as a punching bag like when you sit in front of them.
A baby is annoying, but they can't really help it.
I doubt the dead person had much control of the situation either.
Right, sure ...
100% the dead person. I'd rather jump than stay next to the baby.
Couldn't have placed the body in the cargo hold or one of the bathrooms? I think passengers wouldn't have minded being one bathroom down.
Even if the body was in the aisle seat... Can you imagine hauling a body down the aisle of a fully booked flight?
It sounds like they already moved the body after death. They specifically moved the body to that seat.
Put it in the first class or the crew bunkers. Anywhere but there...
Doubtful those are actual options. Bathroom? How are they going to secure the body incase of an emergency? It'll just be bouncing around in the bathroom. I don't think the door is strong enough to keep the body from falling out. And access to the cargo hold through the plane is very tight/small. It's hard enough to be an able body person getting down there. Dragging a body would be next to impossible.
Access to the cargo hold? That's a myth made up by movies. Checked bags have different security standards for a reason, they're completely separate from passengers.
I think the only thing they're pissed about is the airline didn't allow them to move seats after they put the woman not in her original seat and probably being forced to stay on the plane longer than needed, potentially missing their connection to Venice, while medics came on board to haul her away.
If the flight wasn't full and they didn't allow them to move seats that's extremely messed up.
Honestly they could've secured the body to one of the flight staff seats. If there's no extra, the flight attendant could sit next to a passenger.
Even if it was full they should have found an alternate method of securing the body. They’re already dead, they don’t need a seat.
I think the problem likely comes down to safety and respect for the dead.
Put the body in the back galley and suddenly the plane hits rough turbulence and that body is now a +100 pound projectile.
Putting the body in a bathroom seems better, but that turbulence hits and now the body is flying around in there during the rough turbulence, and then the next day the media is lambasting the air line for desecrating the body or whatever.
Then not having an alternate plan in place is on the airline, if there was nothing else the crew could do.
I think it's more the nature of modern air craft. There isn't much spare room and space is extremely expensive on planes. Meanwhile, these deaths rarely occur.
There's probably some way to design a system to secure a body in the bathroom, however, and I broadly agree with you that they should have some type of solution.
If the movie Commando has taught me anything, it’s that a dead person covered to look like they are asleep, can make an 8 hour flight without notice.
We all have so much to learn from Commando.
You just need a blanket and a pillow (and John Matrix).
Go ahead, put me next to the body. But don't for a second think you can stop me from acting out that scene in Commando for the rest of the flight.
"Please dont disturb my friend, he's dead tired"
I mean... it is shit but there isn't a lot to do in this situation.
You might think they should put the body in the bathroom or cargo hold. Actual direct access to the cargo hold during flight is not feasible on most passenger flights due to pressurization/climate and safety concerns. Also, if they don't have enough straps to tie down the body then that is going to be a REALLY bad PR mess when they remove a corpse that had been bouncing around and off of luggage during a landing. And if they do have enough straps, that is a completely different PR mess.
Same for the bathroom. For a 14 hour flight I assume this jet had multiple bathrooms. But you still have the problem of a body that bounced around a bathroom during landing.
Versus? You get it away from the family so they are less traumatized. You then put a blanket on it and buckle it in so that the body is safe.
It would really suck to be the people next to where teh body ended up. But if the flight was full? Having a flight attendant say "Excuse me. Is anyone cool with sitting next to a dead body?" isn't going to end well... and all but guarantees you get the kind of people who shouldn't be allowed near a corpse to volunteer.
MAYBE put them in a flight attendant seat but those tend to be near the galley which has its own health issues. And if it is a flight with sleeping quarters for the crew (likely for a 14 hour flight) that is both a safety concern (crew can't rest) AND all the same "body bouncing around" problems as the others.
As for what Qatar Airways should have done? Personally, I would have just offered the couple a shit ton of miles. A full refund isn't "right" since we have all sat next to things we don't want to (I would honestly rather sit next to a corpse than a morbidly obese person who insists on resting their arms over my body the entire flight...). And general counseling really isn't something the airline has on staff, although it would be nice if they offered to pay for some of it.
It would make the most sense to move the body to a flight attendant seat and have an attendant sit with the passengers. Unless the flight is close to its destination, then it's probably best to just leave it as moving a corpse is a real pain.
It would make the most sense to move the body to a flight attendant seat and have an attendant sit with the passengers.
I think that the flight attendants have those dedicated seats at the ends of the cabin and facing it for a reason, so that they can see what's going on in the cabin. Like, probably safety reasons for that.
Honestly, I'd just as soon not have a corpse next to me...but I'd also just as soon not have a living person next to me. I don't see it as the world's most traumatic experience. I mean, I don't know whether it's optimal or not, but it's an airplane, sticking it there isn't a wildly-unreasonable thing to do. I can't see getting that worked up over it, as a passenger.
On the flip side, I also don't think that it's wildly-unreasonable for the airline to give them a voucher. I mean, it's not like "dead body on an aircraft" is a common occurrence and it probably doesn't cost very much to keep someone happy. I mean, I've gotten vouchers for being willing to take a later flight when I didn't have any schedule to keep.
The whole thing just doesn't seem like enough of an issue to get that worked up about or play hardball over.
MAYBE put them in a flight attendant seat but those tend to be near the galley which has its own health issues. And if it is a flight with sleeping quarters for the crew (likely for a 14 hour flight) that is both a safety concern (crew can’t rest) AND all the same “body bouncing around” problems as the others.
It would make the most sense to move the body to a flight attendant seat and have an attendant sit with the passengers. Unless the flight is close to its destination, then it's probably best to just leave it as moving a corpse is a real pain.
I don’t think that would be allowed as per safety regulations.
Flight attendants are safety personnel who also serve food and drinks.
The jump seats facing the passengers are there for a reason.
Having said that if airlines would be allowed to fly without flight attendants they would.
It sounds cold but isnt this kind of the point of a body bag? To contain a human corpse without contaminating the surroundings, as well as ease of transportation, while also not taking up a huge amount of space when unneeded?
Good points! I was thinking more of the seats they have in the crew area (not all planes have it though), but I suppose contamination would still be a problem, although how much contamination can a fresh corpse really spread versus a living person?
I guess?? In case of a medical emergency they would typically try to make an emergency landing (I hope??). So how did this person die, and how certain were they that they could not recessitate? Did it happen over sea or land? Honestly it raises a ton of questions.
Its an international flight. I went to american public school so my geography is shit but Australia to Qatar has a lot of countries in between, all with their own visa and even safety requirements.
If it were an actual medical emergency where they (at the airline) felt an emergency landing (which would still be closer to hours away anyway) would make a difference AND they could safely land somewhere that was willing to isolate the passengers who aren't legally authorized to be in country (also potential quarantine concerns)? They would.
Otherwise? You go to the nearest safe place to land which is often the destination anyway.
That is why you'll see the occasional story about how a transatlantic flight got halfway across and then turned around because of a problem. And a friend who used to fly passenger flights from LAX to HND would always talk about the point of no return where any diversion is about as long as the flight itself anyway.
And, as an aside, one of my "favorite" flight stories:
Was flying into DFW for a connection to get home. About an hour before we landed, the flight attendants got up to do their usual credit card schpiel but cut off partway through and rushed to the back. Everyone around me turned around to look. I... went back to my book.
A few minutes later they actually do an "Is anyone a doctor" call. Then ten or so minutes later they talk about how when we land everyone needs to stay seated while a passenger is removed from the flight. And then... they got back on the intercom to say that we should ignore that request and deplane normally.
I meant to check what said passenger died of (even if the medical emergency was under control they would have wanted to get them off ASAP for liability reasons) but it had snowed three states over so DFW was already a refugee camp at 6 PM as every single flight was cancelled or delayed. By the time I got home (three days later...) I was already too lazy to check exactly when we landed and so forth.
This plus unruly passengers is why I think a spare seat away from the other passengers should be mandatory on all passenger planes. Then we wouldn't get dead bodies with nowhere to put them or dangerous passengers duct taped to their seat.