A few years ago on a domestic flight in China, our airline had a passenger number problem. The headcount showed one less passenger than the manifest. Obviously, this needed to be resolved and an investigation followed. An exhaustive search found a little old lady with an urn in her lap which contained the ashes of her dead husband which she was returning to their ancestral home. She had purchaed a ticket, checked him in with his passport and our check-in in staff had issued him with a boarding card.
We now advise passengers that the spirits of the departed fly free!