Flight attendant reveals what happens if someone dies while on board

Whether you love it or loathe it, flying on an airplane is a fascinating piece of ingenuity.

While some continue to say, "If God wanted us to fly, he'd have given us wings," the plane industry only seems to be getting bigger as we jet around the world on business or pleasure.

There are plenty of plane horror stories, and in the first half of 2025, there have been some alarming aeronautical disasters.

On the lighter side of plane news, we love hearing from flight attendants as they dish the dirt on what you should and shouldn't do while flying at 30,000 feet.

Whether it be revealing how to get free first-class upgrades, why you should never wear shorts on a flight, and the dangers of taking sleeping medication if you're afraid of flying, flight attendants also share some of the scariest things they've seen while up in the air.

From cabin crew helping avoid mass casualties to flight attendants worried about passengers being sucked out into the air mid-flight, most have experienced some truly terrifying experiences.

Now, one former Virgin Atlantic cabin crew member has given us some illuminating insight into what goes on behind the scenes.

As well as diving into the saucier side of travel when discussing the Mile High Club, Mandy Smith explained the real odds of survival if a plane crashes.

It's important to remain calm during a medical emergency on a plane (Tunvarat Pruksachat / Getty)

During one segment, Smith tells LADbible what happens if a passenger dies on a flight.

While Smith says this thankfully hasn't happened to her, she explains how they used to put deceased passengers in the bathroom and then lock the cubicle off, but with rigor mortis potentially setting in after setting the body down, they could become stuck in a seated position and unable to fit in their coffin.

Smith claims that nowadays, they have to lie the deceased across the front of the seats and cover them with a blanket.

As you can imagine, this is a stressful situation for all involved, with Smith adding that the crew also have to try and calm the passenger's loved ones down.

While treating the deceased with respect, the crew might try to cordon the entire area with blankets tucked into the overhead bins.

There's the fascinating revelation that it's the law that the crew would have to keep doing resuscitation until the passenger is deemed deceased. She concluded: "If it was someone who passed away from natural causes, or another kind of ailment, then obviously, we wouldn't need to do anything to them."

Aside from contacting ground services to be met by an ambulance or the coroner, it wouldn't be treated as an emergency landing.

Responding to the video, one person said: "I have the deepest respect for flight attendants in modern times. The amount of difficult people they have to deal with, I could not do that. She is so calm and warm, a perfect personality for that difficult job. ❤."

Another added: "Talking about distressing situations, while using all the right language and being so gracious and understanding of everyone involved is such a difficult thing to do. Such an empathetic person."

A third shared their own harrowing experience and explained: "A man died on my United flight in July 1980, Philly to Denver, a row back, in the aisle seat. They put a napkin or some type of cloth over his face, that was it.

"The flight attendants were crying, as were my mother & I. We were on the way to my dad's funeral with him in a casket on the plane, too."