Qantas allows coffins on flights.
After Qantas forced a woman to truck her husband’s dead body 2200 kilometres from Alice Springs to Melbourne, as reported in TravelMole, the airline has been forced to modify restraints in the holds of its limited number of 737-800 planes, which fly routes from Alice Springs, Kalgoorlie and Mount Isa, to allow them to transport coffins.
It is not clear whether the changes apply to other aircraft on other routes.
Irmgard Kastner had to delay the cremation of her husband, Alfred, for days and pay $3000 to funeral directors to have his body brought by truck from Alice Springs and it would have cost $1250 if the body had been flown to Melbourne.
Mrs Kastner’s ordeal has been condemned by the Australian Funeral Directors Association.
Alfred Kastner, 60, a popular chef in Alice Springs, died from a heart attack on May 12 and he was cremated at the Bunurong Memorial Park in Dandenong South last Friday.
Mrs Kastner said her grief at the sudden death of her husband had been compounded by the trouble in transporting the body, adding, “We were just totally devastated.” “He was a husband, a father and a grandfather, but for them (Qantas) he was just a body,” she said.
“It’s good that they’ve changed the planes, but I don’t know why they couldn’t have done that when we needed to get my husband’s body down here.”
Qantas spokesman Lloyd Quartermaine said the airline had tested modifications to restraints, adding, “Effectively from now on, regardless of the port or the type of aircraft, we can now transport coffins”.
Report by The Mole and The Age
John Alwyn-Jones
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