If your loved one passes away while waiting in the security line, the TSA will be happy to hand-screen her and get her on her flight

[fooferdoggie]

all the time. So when Jai Cooper heard sobbing from the back of the security line, it didn’t really faze her. As an officer of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), she had gotten used to the strange behavior of passengers. Her job was to check people’s travel documents, not their emotional well-being.

But this particular group of tearful passengers presented her with a problem. One of them was in a wheelchair, bent over with her head between her knees, completely unresponsive. “Is she okay? Can she sit up?” Cooper asked, taking their boarding passes and IDs to check. “I need to see her face to identify her.”

“She can’t, she can’t, she can’t,” said the passenger who was pushing the wheelchair.

Soon, Cooper was joined at her station by a supervisor, followed by an assortment of EMTs and airport police officers. The passenger was dead. She and her family had arrived several hours prior, per the airport’s guidance for international flights, but she died sometime after check-in. Since they had her boarding pass in hand, the distraught family figured that they would still try to get her on the flight. Better that than leave her in a foreign country’s medical system, they figured.

The family might not have known it, but they had run into one of air travel’s many gray areas. Without a formal death certificate, the passenger could not be considered legally dead. And US law obligates airlines to accommodate their ticketed and checked-in passengers, even if they have “a physical or mental impairment that, on a permanent or temporary basis, substantially limits one or more major life activities.” In short: she could still fly. But not before her body got checked for contraband, weapons, or explosives. And since the TSA’s body scanners can only be used on people who can stand up, the corpse would have to be manually patted down.

“We’re just following TSA protocol,” Cooper explained.

Her colleagues checked the corpse according to the official pat-down process. With gloves on, they ran the palms of their hands over the collar, the abdomen, the inside of the waistband, and the lower legs. Then, they checked the body’s “sensitive areas” — the breasts, inner thighs, and buttocks — with “sufficient pressure to ensure detection.”

Only then was the corpse cleared to proceed into the secure part of the terminal.

Not even death can exempt you from TSA screening.

The Humiliating History of the TSA

Two decades of pat-downs, and there is little evidence that we are any safer.

www.theverge.com

 

[GermanSuplex]

May be one of the worst ways to go out besides keeling over at the DMV.

As bad as it sounds, the people she was traveling with seemed to be ok with it, so I guess this could be seen as an example of really outgoing customer service.

 

[NT1440]

Did…did they just prop this person’s body up in the seat on the plane?

 

[ronntaylor]

Not even death can exempt you from TSA screening.

Putting aside emotions, I imagine terrorists would jump at the chance to put explosives on a body if they knew TSA would not do a check on a deceased passenger.

A tough situation that I would not wish on anyone. I've actually thought about what happens if I die while traveling internationally. I already hate flying and have been on international flights with fellow passengers that have medical conditions. In fact, my first flight ever -- nine hours to Africa -- my seat mate used a cane, had limited mobility and a bag full of meds that she took on a nearly hourly basis. The thought that kept going through my head was "Please let her make it to Senegal safely!!"

 

[DT]

I've actually thought about what happens if I die while traveling internationally.

"Hey, Ronn hasn't posted in a while ..."

Did…did they just prop this person’s body up in the seat on the plane?

Yeah, I wonder how that worked? Seems like there might be some passenger freak out ...

 

[Yoused]

I hope they did not put her in an exit row, and that none of the exit-row passengers got grossed out by how rank the cabin was getting and decided to pop that thing out to get some fresh air in.

 

[fooferdoggie]

I hope they did not put her in an exit row, and that none of the exit-row passengers got grossed out by how rank the cabin was getting and decided to pop that thing out to get some fresh air in.

put her in the unheated cargo hold keep her fresh.

 

[fischersd]

Well, she was alive when they booked, so I'm sure her seat is amongst her family (unless they're REALLY cheap and are scattered all over the plane). Heh. I'm sure if she wasn't before, the flight crew probably gave people the opportunity to sit somewhere else.

And, per the smell thing - depends how long the flight is - 18 hours to Thailand? Yeah, she may begin to smell a little funky.

Me, I want to be cremated when I go, so if I died elsewhere, just light me up there and bring my ashes back in a coffee can.

 

[Roller]

Makes me think about the movie Commando, where Arnold dispatches the thug accompanying him on an 11 hour plane flight. One of my favorite Schwarzenegger movies because it didn't take itself too seriously.

 

[ronntaylor]

"Hey, Ronn hasn't posted in a while ..."

Har!! We just finished making our flight plans for SF early January. Scary thing is I fly back to NYC solo. I'll be in the aisle seat, so at least no one has to struggle to get past me should I, er, y'know!

 

[Yoused]

And, per the smell thing - depends how long the flight is - 18 hours to Thailand? Yeah, she may begin to smell a little funky.

"Um, stewardess, can we get some more ice over here?"

Me, I want to be cremated when I go, so if I died elsewhere, just light me up there and bring my ashes back in a coffee can.

I can see them rolling out one of those stair ramps with your body propped at the top, "A little closer, right there, ok, tell the pilot to wind it up to cruise speed. Dammit, man, who forgot to empty his pockets?"

 

[Alli]

Me, I want to be cremated when I go, so if I died elsewhere, just light me up there and bring my ashes back in a coffee can.

The Neptune Society. My parents recommended them, and I used them to preplan my cremation. If you’re traveling abroad, they will take care of everything.