Dont Kark it in Alice....
Silly Old Git
Thread Starter
Dont Kark it in Alice....
The funeral home had to find a truck in Western Australia to drive 3000km to pick up Mr Kastner in Alice Springs and transport him to Melbourne.
If the safety issue relates to the restraint of coffins, then presumably all items of freight of similar weight and dimensions are also affected. What is the difficulty with restraining freight in a 737?
Last edited by Fris B. Fairing; 29th May 2007 at 23:42.
I don't think Virgin or JQ do coffins, but I may be wrong. So it would rely on a 767 service via BNE or somewhere...
I still don't get why they had to drive the truck from Perth, or is that just the NT News trying to make the story more sensational
I still don't get why they had to drive the truck from Perth, or is that just the NT News trying to make the story more sensational
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You could write a book about the difficulties of moving human remains around the country. From my experience, the funeral industry has a lot to answer for. However, that does not let airlines off the hook as they are very difficult people when it comes to the expeditious carriage of the dead. Both industry groups appear to take advantage of the grieving when the latter are at their most vulnerable - nothing new here.
Bottums Up
Well to counter the slagging, whilst QF may have a policy regarding their carriage of coffins, they do look after the bereaved where possible.
On one occasion when I paxed ASP-PER last year, amongst the pax compliment were the grandparents and aunt of the lass murdered at Collie. QF gave them special fares to return to PER. As far as I know, this fare discount is available to all for the asking, in the right circumstances.
I didn't know it was a requirement for airlines to carry coffins.
On one occasion when I paxed ASP-PER last year, amongst the pax compliment were the grandparents and aunt of the lass murdered at Collie. QF gave them special fares to return to PER. As far as I know, this fare discount is available to all for the asking, in the right circumstances.
I didn't know it was a requirement for airlines to carry coffins.
Yep Qantas will bust their balls for you and do have a bereavement fare for immediate family members as long as they can verify the situation. Had a friend who used it once, father died she walked to the QF help desk and was on the first available flight on a cheap ticket.
I can only compliment Qantas & their staff for their exceptional help when I found out my father had terminal cancer earlier this year.
I already had a ticket for myself & 3 month old infant to go to Oz to be with with him but we were waiting for my son's passport to arrive. Unfortunately my dad's condition deteriorated markedly a week or so before we were due to travel. My brother phoned at 0400 Florida time to tell me to drop everything & get to Oz ASAP.
By 0430 I was through to QF ticketing in Melbourne - US office closed at that hour, of course - with the agent working for over an hour to find a combination of flights that left that day. At one point the phone line dropped out so I had to call again. During the second call the original agent phoned me on my cell phone to continue the process.
They combined their efforts & consolidated the 2 phone line/3 way conversation to a more normal phone call & were able to get me on a flight leaving in a couple of hours, routing via Atlanta - LAX - SYD - Brisbane. They had no seats available on a direct Brisbane flight. Qantas even waived the ticket change fees *and* refunded my baby's ticket cost (passport still hadn't arrived).
In LAX I spoke with the check in lady about the circumstances & inquired if there was any way to get on the BNE flight. She spoke with the supervisor & directed me to him. They got me on the direct flight and again waived the fee.
Meanwhile the hospital social worker had spoken with QF's ground manager in BNE to explain what was happening. She told me to talk to the purser and explain that I was going to be met at the door & ask for priority disembarkation.
At BNE the purser paged me forward as soon as the FSB sign was off - he wanted to have me change seats to be closer to the door but had no empty seats anywhere - and had me off the a/c as soon as the door was wide enough for me to get through.
A supervisor met me at the door & rushed me up the jetway to a cart & driver he had waiting at the top. We went straight to immigration where the QF bloke said something like '...here's the person I told you about..." while waiving my passport at the immigration official. We were waived straight through, skipped past the Singapore Airline 747 load of people that had arrived before us to the the head of the customs queue where we were waved through. On the way to customs he had taken my checked baggage ticket & handed it in to their baggage office to look after. He informed me that they'd look after it & I would be able to collect it later that day from their baggage office on the public side.
Next thing I knew I was in the public area being met by my cousin to take me to the hospital in Ipswich. It took longer to walk from the international terminal to my cousin's car than it took to get from the aircraft to the public area.
As a result of the wonderful efforts of all those people I was able to have a few hours with my dad that morning while he was still conscious. He lapsed into unconsciousness at lunchtime & died that night.
I already had a ticket for myself & 3 month old infant to go to Oz to be with with him but we were waiting for my son's passport to arrive. Unfortunately my dad's condition deteriorated markedly a week or so before we were due to travel. My brother phoned at 0400 Florida time to tell me to drop everything & get to Oz ASAP.
By 0430 I was through to QF ticketing in Melbourne - US office closed at that hour, of course - with the agent working for over an hour to find a combination of flights that left that day. At one point the phone line dropped out so I had to call again. During the second call the original agent phoned me on my cell phone to continue the process.
They combined their efforts & consolidated the 2 phone line/3 way conversation to a more normal phone call & were able to get me on a flight leaving in a couple of hours, routing via Atlanta - LAX - SYD - Brisbane. They had no seats available on a direct Brisbane flight. Qantas even waived the ticket change fees *and* refunded my baby's ticket cost (passport still hadn't arrived).
In LAX I spoke with the check in lady about the circumstances & inquired if there was any way to get on the BNE flight. She spoke with the supervisor & directed me to him. They got me on the direct flight and again waived the fee.
Meanwhile the hospital social worker had spoken with QF's ground manager in BNE to explain what was happening. She told me to talk to the purser and explain that I was going to be met at the door & ask for priority disembarkation.
At BNE the purser paged me forward as soon as the FSB sign was off - he wanted to have me change seats to be closer to the door but had no empty seats anywhere - and had me off the a/c as soon as the door was wide enough for me to get through.
A supervisor met me at the door & rushed me up the jetway to a cart & driver he had waiting at the top. We went straight to immigration where the QF bloke said something like '...here's the person I told you about..." while waiving my passport at the immigration official. We were waived straight through, skipped past the Singapore Airline 747 load of people that had arrived before us to the the head of the customs queue where we were waved through. On the way to customs he had taken my checked baggage ticket & handed it in to their baggage office to look after. He informed me that they'd look after it & I would be able to collect it later that day from their baggage office on the public side.
Next thing I knew I was in the public area being met by my cousin to take me to the hospital in Ipswich. It took longer to walk from the international terminal to my cousin's car than it took to get from the aircraft to the public area.
As a result of the wonderful efforts of all those people I was able to have a few hours with my dad that morning while he was still conscious. He lapsed into unconsciousness at lunchtime & died that night.
Last edited by Tinstaafl; 14th Jun 2007 at 17:36.
Tinstaafl, I cried when I first read that story elsewhere and you have again brought tears to my eyes with it here. 
How is little Liam going?
Back to the topic, Q has now cleared coffins back onto all their aircraft. Story here.
How is little Liam going?Back to the topic, Q has now cleared coffins back onto all their aircraft. Story here.
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The reason QF don't carry coffins on B737's is that the only place they can be restrained is in Compartment 1 or 4. 4 is not going to be loaded with a coffin by the ramp as it is the smallest hold, and most coffins weigh 100-200kg (I have seen one this heavy recently).
The reason they can not be put in Compartment 2 or 3 is that most B737 have sliding carpets in these holds, and they do not have any restraint points. A small number of B734 don't have a sliding carpet in Compartment 3 so you can load them in there, but that is only luck if you get one of those.
The policy has only recently been changed again, in that coffins can be restrained in Compartment 1. While this also affects other cargo, you don't get much cargo which is heavy as well as large like a coffin.
The reason they can not be put in Compartment 2 or 3 is that most B737 have sliding carpets in these holds, and they do not have any restraint points. A small number of B734 don't have a sliding carpet in Compartment 3 so you can load them in there, but that is only luck if you get one of those.
The policy has only recently been changed again, in that coffins can be restrained in Compartment 1. While this also affects other cargo, you don't get much cargo which is heavy as well as large like a coffin.
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In '98 I had to get Dad's body from Sydney to Barbados.
Explained to the funeral home here what I wanted. Gave them a name of a funeral home in Barbados to liaise with. Also gave them the name of my local travel agent as Mum wanted to be on the same flights.
Went to my travel agent and told them what was happening. I suggested Sydney - Los Angeles - Miami - Barbados as I've done that route many times before.
That afternoon the funeral home rung and said American Airlines are unable to take the body via Miami but New York was OK. I said ok as I've been that way as well.
Rang the travel agent and they already knew about it and were re booking tickets and accommodation in New York.
The first leg of the trip was with QF. It was OK. No special treatment. They made a PA announcement on arrival for Mr so'nso (same name as mine) to come to the front of the plane to speak to someone. I kinda flat spun, concerned that Dad wasn't on the aircraft. When I got to the front I found it was someone else they wanted to talk too. Phew.
All in all everything went ok.
Explained to the funeral home here what I wanted. Gave them a name of a funeral home in Barbados to liaise with. Also gave them the name of my local travel agent as Mum wanted to be on the same flights.
Went to my travel agent and told them what was happening. I suggested Sydney - Los Angeles - Miami - Barbados as I've done that route many times before.
That afternoon the funeral home rung and said American Airlines are unable to take the body via Miami but New York was OK. I said ok as I've been that way as well.
Rang the travel agent and they already knew about it and were re booking tickets and accommodation in New York.
The first leg of the trip was with QF. It was OK. No special treatment. They made a PA announcement on arrival for Mr so'nso (same name as mine) to come to the front of the plane to speak to someone. I kinda flat spun, concerned that Dad wasn't on the aircraft. When I got to the front I found it was someone else they wanted to talk too. Phew.
All in all everything went ok.
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rammel - I flew the 737 for a long time and we always put coffins at the back under a net, used a mobile conveyor. Only need four loaders to take the box off the trolly to the conveyor and two of those would go up into the hold to help with securing etc. Why can't this be done now?