Jay is a senior flight attendant for a major European airline, previously with Emirates, and has spent more than a decade in the sky. All crew members are trained to deal with the death of a passenger, although he has only experienced one such situation themselves.

He says that deaths on board are sporadic.

A 2013 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that in-flight deaths are “isolated.” An analysis of calls to the medical centers of five airlines between 2008 and 2010 showed that only 0.3% of passengers with medical emergencies died.

An Australian couple recently spoke about their “traumatic” experience of being seated next to the body of a passenger who died on a flight from Melbourne to Doha. According to Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin, the body was covered with blankets and placed next to Ring for the last four hours of the flight, without offering the man another seat. Qatar Airways assured that it followed protocols and apologized for the inconvenience caused.

The BBC journalists spoke to the crew and aviation experts to find out how work is usually organized in the event of a death in the air and what rules there are for placing the body in the cabin.

Officially, crew members cannot declare death – only a doctor can do this. The vast majority of airlines follow IATA recommendations, although internal procedures may differ.

Where do they move the body?

In the event of a medical emergency, the crew provides first aid and contacts any medical passengers. In the meantime, the captain consults with doctors on the ground via a special link and, if necessary, decides to land immediately to save lives.

But if the passenger is unresponsive and death is imminent, the body is usually covered or placed in a special bag.

There is very little space on the plane, so the crew has a difficult task: finding a place where the body will not disturb others and will not pose a safety threat. According to IATA recommendations, it should be moved to a free seat or to another cabin section. If there are no free seats, the body is left in the same seat.

The crew always tries to ensure maximum respect: they cover it with blankets, shade it with curtains, and dim the lights.

In the case of Qatar Airways, the body could not be physically carried through the narrow aisle – Mitchell Ring also mentioned this.

The captain notifies the airline and dispatchers, and after landing, the plane is met by local services. If the passenger was traveling alone, airline representatives or the authorities will notify the family.

Ali Murphy, a former flight attendant and host of the Red Eye podcast, has only experienced one death on board in 14 years in the profession.

During a flight from Accra to London, a man who was flying alone collapsed. A passenger nearby noticed that he was not breathing.

Ali and her colleague performed an indirect heart massage for 40 minutes. The captain decided to land in Lyon urgently, but even during landing, the flight attendants did not stop CPR – they could not leave the man.

After landing, doctors declared him dead – the man had a ruptured aorta.

After such cases, the crew receives psychological support and can take a few days off. Ali, for example, asked to fly only with a familiar colleague for a month – she was in a state of shock.