Passenger complains after death onboard flight results in cancelled food service

Grilled steak with asparagus on white background
By Dan lake


A passenger who flew on British Airways from Jamaica to London has shared a complaint she made to the airline regarding the cancelation of a meal service due to the death of a fellow traveller.

The passenger who has not been named, but who we will call Karen posted her complaint to a Facebook page dedicated to advice on how to complain to British Airways.

The complaint said the flight was not up to standard before the death even took place, with delays before departure of around three hours.

“During the flight, a passenger directly two rows behind us, passed away in the most horrific way, giving us the most traumatic experience during a flight,” the passenger said.

“Around 3 and 1/2 hours prior to us landing in the UK we was awakened by commotion, going on by the airline staff, and a passenger two rows behind us regarding a passenger losing consciousness.”

“Whilst the airline staff responded quite quickly, it was extremely traumatic to witness. My nephew was moved from his seat during his sleep into the row ahead of us onto my lap in order to prevent him from witnessing what was about to occur (still only three rows ahead of the ordeal).”

“The passenger that was losing consciousness was then placed in the aisle beside us in order to perform, resuscitation CPR and attempt to save her life; the entire experience went on for over an hour.”

“I’ve never in my life witnessed someone being shocked or having CPR performed and never would’ve expected that to happened on flight returning home.’

“Over the Christmas period we have been extremely sad and I’m traumatised by this experience and it is something that neither myself and my immediate family including the young children have been able to stop talking or thinking about and have had many sleepless nights and stress and worries about the events that occurred during the course of the flight.”

While her calls for counselling services have been supported, most on the group criticised the complainant, suggesting she read the room, or the cabin as it may be in this case.

“We also have been led to believe had the flight not have been delayed and this poor lady had been able to eat on time and not had the chaotic experience leading up to and boarding the flight, her life may not have been wasted, and she may still be here today.”

“Naturally, during the course of this experience, it meant our flight services were halted and aside from the initial meal, drinks and flight mills were discontinued, so we did not receive a thorough flight experience that we had paid for.”

“I am extremely infuriated by British Airways handling of this situation, following the flight because I would have expected some sort of communication from yourselves to those of us that have been on the flight, particularly close enough to have been impacted and witnessed the whole experience to check on our well-being, apologise for the experience and offer some sort of compensation or counselling following it.”

At this stage, British Airways has not responded to the complaint.

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