When tragedy strikes at 35,000 feet, airline crews follow carefully designed protocols to handle passenger deaths with dignity and discretion, according to an experienced flight attendant who has witnessed these rare but devastating events firsthand.
The Unspoken Reality of Air Travel
Barbara Bacilieri, a 33-year-old flight attendant originally from Argentina, has spent 14 years in the aviation industry and recently shared her insights about what truly occurs when someone passes away during a flight. Through her social media platforms, she educates the public about the special procedures that airline staff implement in these sensitive situations.
"A death on a flight is not too common, but it does happen sometimes," Barbara explained to What's The Jam. "That's why airlines have a special procedure for this." She emphasised that crew members receive specific training to manage these incidents with the utmost respect and professionalism.
Step-by-Step Emergency Protocol
The process begins when a passenger or crew member suspects someone isn't merely sleeping. Barbara described a typical scenario: "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."
Immediately, the flight attendant will alert other crew members, who then inform the captain. The attending crew member will check the passenger's vital signs and likely begin CPR while simultaneously asking if there are any medical professionals among the passengers.
Barbara noted that while airlines don't typically have their own doctors onboard, "there's almost always a healthcare worker among the passengers" who can assist. Crucially, she highlighted an important legal distinction: "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."
Difficult Decisions and Discreet Handling
Once a passenger is confirmed to have passed away, the captain faces two primary options: diverting to the nearest airport or continuing to the final destination. The decision depends entirely on the circumstances and whether the safety of other passengers might be compromised.
If the situation is deemed under control, the flight will typically continue as scheduled. The deceased passenger will be moved to an empty row if available. However, Barbara revealed: "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."
She recalled one incident where she was travelling as a passenger when someone 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," she described. "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."
Challenging Realities for Crew Members
In more extreme circumstances, the situation becomes even more challenging for the flight crew. Barbara shared another account from a transatlantic flight where a passenger died and no empty seats were available. "The crew decided to put the body in the galley, the flight attendants' kitchen, covered with a blanket," she explained.
The flight continued as scheduled, requiring extraordinary measures from the crew. "My friend had to spend hours with her foot propped up against the body to stop it moving around," Barbara revealed. "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."
Barbara also clarified that planes regularly transport 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," she said. Some major airports, including Amsterdam's Schiphol, maintain morgue facilities to receive and prepare bodies before their final journey home.
Through her candid sharing, Barbara provides rare insight into one of aviation's most sensitive subjects, demonstrating how airline professionals maintain dignity and composure during some of their most challenging moments at work.
