Comments on: Leading Off

By: Bethany

Bethany — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 03:01:49 +0000

*sticks tongue firmly in cheek* Clearly, to avoid offending the delicate sensibilities of passengers like Lee and Rawlins, AA should have diverted the flight to Miami, then quickly put the deceased in the cargo area of the plane before continuing to New York.

Tim W., you should totally get right on that.

By: T. Leppert

T. Leppert — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:40:06 +0000

AA did the decent thing. If I die mid-flight, at least let me complete my final plane trip in style. The only thing that would hve topped it off is if the in-flight movie was “Weekend at Bernie’s . . . II.” [insert "Rock Me" drop].

By: Wylie H.

Wylie H. — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:00:38 +0000

What Tim W. said. Diverting the aircraft to Miami would have created needless problems and generated significant additional expense for the family of the deceased.

By: Louisa Meyer

Louisa Meyer — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:50:19 +0000

Thank you to W. T. White alumnus Susan Dell for her many gifts to public education and, no, she has not singled out her alma mater. The foundation is very judicious in its gifts.

If anyone needs this kind of database, it IS a large urban school district with high student mobility. There may be an average of 158,000 kids but the number coming in and out is much larger. Stop in on any high school the soon after report cards have been mailed home and you’ll be astounded by the stack of returned mail. That’s just an example of basic record keeping issues. So imagine how difficult it is to keep up with the highly mobile kid’s academic record.

There is no way this type of project could be effectively accomplished without an external funding and consulting source…..and avoid the meddling of investigative reporters and other barking dogs.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:49:56 +0000

If I die on a plane, I want they should jettison my corpse over Disneyland!

By: brian

brian — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:01:46 +0000

If I died on a plane, I wouldn’t want them to reroute just to dump my body…disrespectful…come on I’m already dead. It’s not like they’re using it as a prop for a stand up routine.

By: the amanda

the amanda — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:00:38 +0000

Marty and spouse want to be wheels up on a private jet, where they simply throw the bodies overboard in keeping with a long tradition of piracy… Hey, and Marty, before you go off half ****ed with some snarky response…I changed 6 lightbulbs all by myself on Sunday. Please send me a check.

By: jamesn

jamesn — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:51:18 +0000

One of the problems with just landing somewhere is what happens to the body. You now have a corpse in a city where you know there is no one who can claim it. Eventually that body is going to have to be transported somewhere, either to where it came from or to where it was going. If you keep the body on the plane, you have a 50-50 chance of getting the body to the city where it’s final resting place is going to be. Finely, who wants to be the AA worker that not only has to tell a family that their loved one is dead, but that they’ll need to fly to Miami to claim the body from the Dade County coroner?

I wonder, though, what Marty (and/or Mrs.) Cortland would have to say about dead bodies along with the unwashed masses in first class.

By: Tim W.

Tim W. — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:50:48 +0000

Diverting the plane to Miami after the passenger was deceased actually would have created difficult issues for the family of the deceased. The medical examiner of Miami would have then taken control of the body, to be released at an undetermined time. The family also would have had to make arrangements for the deceased to be transported from Miami back to New York City. In the short run, passengers would have been inconvenienced by a diversion to Miami, and in the long run, the family would have faced more hardship with an already traumatic situation.

It is standard operating procedure when there is a death aboard a flight to move the deceased to an area of the cabin where it can be isolated to some extent and covered. That is sometimes at the rear of the cabin, but in this instance, with a very full flight, the best option was the bulkhead row at the front of first class. Passengers were arranged to be farther from the deceased and our customer relations department will be (or likely already has been) in contact with the affected first class passengers.

Tim Wagner
Spokesman
American Airlines

By: jb

jb — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:49:47 +0000

I keep seeing these early voting polls of how there are already 40,000 Democrat ballots sent in compared to around 13,000 ballots in for the primary election. As if to say, ‘It really looks like Dallas has swung completely Democrat and the Republicans are totally screwed come November.’
But does the media and others really realize this in only a PRIMARY and that the Republican guy has by all purposes, won the nomination for his party and because of that, most republicans are not even going to vote in the primary? I mean I know there are some heated more local primary elections and all but nothing like the Hillary/Obama contest on the Demo side. As a registered Republican, I am not voting in this primary, but most certainly will come November.