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Comments (3)
Print
Save/ShareIt would be funny if it weren't so sad.
After his wife passed away from cancer on March 28, Miguel Olaya made arrangements with a Brooklyn, N.Y., funeral home to repatriate her body to their native Ecuador. The funeral home flew the body on American Airlines. Unfortunately, the airline lost the body, says the New York Daily News. An official accidentally entered the wrong code, and the casketed body was sent to the capital of Guatemala instead.
Here's how Gothamist describes the result:
By the time Olaya got his wife's remains, she was too badly decomposed for the planned three day wake.
Either the casket hadn't been property refrigerated, or it hadn't been properly embalmed, or both. It's unclear.
Of course, the airline wanted to charge a fee of $321 for having to ship the body to the correct location, according to the Daily News:
The funeral home said it shouldn't have to pay the charge and handed over copies of the billing information which had the correct destination on it. Apparently, a worker at the airline had typed in the wrong airport code: GUA for Guatemala instead of GYE for Guayaquil. American apologized and did not charge the fee.
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Even in death, the airlines manage to screw people
Posted By consumer on September 10, 2008, 1:23 PM
Imagine, American Airlines, the airline that caused us to miss our Grandson's second birthday party, after we specifically booked to save time and make the event, losing a body! Accidents happen, but this was a sorry treatment of a delicate subject, especially when it was the airline's fault. This same airline also left a relative of ours, with a ticket, sitting on the ground, even though he had a severe family emergency, since they had overbooked. It seems that they could use some public relations and best of all some compassion. "These are the times that try men's souls" said Thomas Paine, but the pain that this airline has been generating continues to accrue.
Posted By Donna on September 11, 2008, 7:43 PM
As sad as this situation is (and I can't imagine the pain it caused her family) even airline employees have experienced baggage being directed to incorrect airports. I know, it's happened to me. Not to "make light" of this unfortunate incident but baggage handlers and CSR's are extremely busy and neither job is highly paid but experiences high volume and time constraints. It is quite easy to make a mistake, unfortunately it causes tremendous problems for the passengers who experience these problems. My heart goes out to the family who lost their loved one through a mistake that should never have happened. My experience of an expensive ski vacation being ruined by an Atlanta based airline; loss of our baggage with gear lost, seems insignificant compared to this situation. I hope that airline refunded the family's cost of transport of the casket and any family members accompanying it! Write in to the airline's customer service office!
Posted By consumer on September 13, 2008, 5:45 PM