Unless you live in a cave, you’ve probably seen the recent case of how a family wheeled a ‘dead body’ on to an EasyJet flight from Malaga Airport to London Gatwick – and how ‘concerned passengers’ uploaded it all to TikTok, causing a worldwide sensation.
Happening on December 18, this ‘charming’ advent story has spread itself across social networks and traditional media spanning Europe, India, and the UK. Like a fungus that won’t stop growing and turns increasingly dark.
The popular press – especially in the UK – is not known for its restraint. In this age of viral content, many outlets are more interested in traffic than truth. Clickbait over conscience. Some are obsessed about aviation stories.
Any botched landings, crashes (even old ones), or people denied boarding over oversize baggage engages travellers and encourages staycations in the UK’s failing seaside resorts.
Meanwhile, this is by far the worst clickbait case of 2025. The most worrying aspect is that it has started appearing in supposedly sensible media outlets – with no fact checks and reader comments that make you cringe. A TikToker named Petra knows that a body was ‘smuggled’ – being such a clear expert in airline protocol.
It could be your gran, think about that!
Lies and telling a big enough story
Today’s PR playbook dates to Goebbels, who famously said: ‘Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.’ In this age of post-truth, post-facts, this idea has become a mantra.
For anyone needing a recap, Flight EZY8070 departed from Malaga at noon with an 89-year-old British woman being assisted by family members to enter a nursing home. She was accompanied by two medical professionals and had a ‘fit-to-fly’ medical certificate.
Her death was confirmed on board, after the plane had started its departure procedure. Emergency services pronounced her dead when the plane returned to the terminal.
Passengers were delayed by 11-12 hours because of the emergency. And they were sore about that, never mind the dead woman! Drat, I missed dinner. I missed my favourite TV episode – how selfish. It has become the latest witch-hunt.
Unresponsive while boarding
Fellow passengers, with zero medical training, said that the woman appeared unresponsive when she boarded in a wheelchair. Some of the more distasteful comments are that passengers can board dead but not drunk.
Cabin crew intervened once the aircraft was moving, by which time the passengers were aware of the situation. And then the media circus began.
Vile comments
Predictably, passengers uploaded their TikTok videos for clout, meaning that it must be true – of course.
On the back of these salacious uploads, recent ‘news’ stories involve a ‘former flight attendant’ (not involved with EasyJet) banging about how ‘incidents do happen’ and ‘I have witnessed it myself which isn’t very nice with somebody passing away on board.’
Nor is it ‘very nice’ to be paid for a weak story based on speculation. She also mentions an ’emergency landing’, that never happened.
Main Character Syndrome means that these people think they are more important than the bereaved family.
Frequent fliers know better
Frequent fliers are aware of the many controls that exist at airports. Even if you perform online check-in, you must navigate airport security, passport control, the boarding gate and – in this case – special assistance.
It’s a stretch of imagination that all these professional agents would turn a blind eye to an actual dead body heading on to a plane – to ‘save repatriation costs’.
With airlines obsessing over passenger conduct and baggage, as well as risks to public safety, someone would have commented.
With special assistance, passengers who are not mobile are lifted on to the plane using a huge apparatus, placed behind the back of the cabin. It is arguable that this, alone, could place strain on an infirm person.
Social media gone mad
Videos and posts about this incident – focusing on the woman’s appearance and relatives wanting to avoid ‘repatriating a body’ – circulated widely online, intruding on a tragic situation.
Many entitled ‘experts’ shared lurid claims that she was definitively dead before boarding. Influencer culture demands attention over compassion – and the world is listening.
It’s no better than infamous TikTok ‘challenges’ such as basting chicken in cough medicine, choking yourself for fun, or emulating the ‘Bird Brain’, sorry, ‘Bird Box’ movie by walking through traffic in blindfolds.
Are we heading for ‘end times’ when people make stupid comments such as: ‘Best type of passenger, a quiet one’; ‘nothing beats a Death2Holiday’; ‘I’ve sat on a few planes and wished some of the passengers were dead’; ‘did they get her the complementary headphones and extra snacks’; ‘I’m surprised they didn’t charge them for the extra weight’ and ‘please don’t disturb Nana, she’s dead tired’. Not forgetting: ‘EasyDeath’. How… drole. Give them a trophy.
Despite someone who allegedly knows the family calling for constraint, the internet abandoned any taste or decency in this case.
Facts: how much does repatriation cost?
So, let’s get this straight. Repatriating a body is a specialist service. It’s way more expensive than passenger transport because it involves embalming, special containers, legal documentation, consular clearance, and often air freight or charter arrangements.
Costs vary but in Europe it can be €3,000–€6,000. It’s feasible that someone would try to avoid that cost. But stop to think… Who would try to board a dead family member on a plane? In this time of smartphones, social media and over-sharing, the consequences are obvious.
There are no known (outside movies) cases of people boarding dead bodies on planes. There are cases of people dying in-flight – but not beforehand.
Is it theoretically possible?
OK, so it could be theoretically possible. At a stretch, with turnaround times that are very short. The only real official safeguard against boarding a dead body is the airline’s responsibility – whether the person has been cleared by a medical professional, and whether the airline’s ground crew allow them into the cabin.
At Malaga and other airports, you must have your passport and boarding documentation checked. Airlines make decisions about whether a passenger is fit to board. However, airport security does not do health assessments.
In principle, there are no health checks that would automatically prevent a deceased person being wheeled through. But, again, who would really do that, leaving a clear paper trail (passports… addresses…), personal disrepute, and viral outrage.
Public opinion is framed by ‘I saw it online – it must be true.’ Meanwhile, a family has been thrown into the worldwide spotlight – at Christmas -while grieving their dead relative. There is zero compassion.
Is this what we have become? ‘The Society of the Spectacle’ on steroids? Can’t we save it for the (dubious) release of the Epstein files and Trump – where public vitriol belongs?
