Keep in mind, dead people evacuate their bowels. It's not a mummy type situation, but more of a sitting next to an open, used by concert goers, porta potty situation.

A baby is annoying, but they can't really help it. I can blame the parents for bringing a baby on a long flight, but I can't get mad at that shit.

Kids on the other hand. I once had 4 unruly kids sitting on the row behind me and they were insane. It was a relatively short flight (6 hours), so a smaller plane with those really thin seats. The plane had the 3-3 configuration of seats, so mom, dad and the 4 kids took up the entire row.

The kids were between 4 and 12 years old. Dad was in the corner sleeping, not giving a fuck. The two older kids (12 and 9 I think) were playing their Switches on the other side of the aisle next to dad. The two younger kids (4 and 7) were behind me with mom. Mom was in the corner with the smallest kid and they were wild. The 7 year old was constantly smashing against their tray and thus my back, kept kicking directly against my back and screaming all the time. The smallest alternated between laughing loudly and crying (shrieking more like). The smallest also stood on the tray, grabbing at my seat and head, diving in between the seat screaming PEEKABOO at full volume directly in my ear. The smallest one would also like to run in the aisle or visit the other kids, but the other one didn't want to move so the kid snuck in between the other one and my seat.

Mom was trying, but 4 kids on your own is a big ask. About 20 mins before we landed the two younger ones passed out and they were pretty damned cute. But in the end my back hurt, I was exhausted and deaf in one ear.

The annoying part was, the rest of the plane was filled with old people who didn't make a peep all flight, just sat there and read, listened and slept. But we just had to be in the worst place on the plane. Sitting behind kids may be annoying, but at least they don't use your back as a punching bag like when you sit in front of them.

Personally, I'd take the dead person.

100% the dead person. I'd rather jump than stay next to the baby.

dead bodies sometimes shit or urinate themselves. and your just being hotboxed in a plane.

I rather sit next to a baby than half the people on flights

I hate that your offer is appealing. But only briefly -- the baby was never going to win.

Even if the body was in the aisle seat... Can you imagine hauling a body down the aisle of a fully booked flight?

Doubtful those are actual options. Bathroom? How are they going to secure the body incase of an emergency? It'll just be bouncing around in the bathroom. I don't think the door is strong enough to keep the body from falling out. And access to the cargo hold through the plane is very tight/small. It's hard enough to be an able body person getting down there. Dragging a body would be next to impossible.

Put it in the first class or the crew bunkers. Anywhere but there...

If the flight wasn't full and they didn't allow them to move seats that's extremely messed up.

The airline installed a discreet locker next to one of the aircraft's exit doors to hold an average-sized human body. Special straps were also provided to secure the body and prevent it from being moved by turbulence or during landing.

It would make the most sense to move the body to a flight attendant seat and have an attendant sit with the passengers. Unless the flight is close to its destination, then it's probably best to just leave it as moving a corpse is a real pain.

“Excuse me. Is anyone cool with sitting next to a dead body?” isn’t going to end well… and all but guarantees you get the kind of people who shouldn’t be allowed near a corpse to volunteer.

They could have asked if anyone had medical experience, then followed up with the spiel about there being a body on board and needing someone who can handle it. The pool of potential volunteers would be narrowed down to those who could provide some basic postmortem care and then respectfully stay with the body through the rest of the flight. The potential for abuse would still be there ofc, but it'd be way lower than just outright asking who's cool with hanging out with a corpse for a few hours.

...honestly, saying that, it might not be a horrible idea to have a "I'm a medical professional" checkbox when buying the ticket. Even as 'just' a tech, I could handle some basic emergencies and wouldn't be horribly traumatized around a body. Shit, throw in a free flight in the event that some kind of emergency intervention is needed, and I'd be down to have my name added to some kind of short list of volunteers for every single flight.

You just need a blanket and a pillow (and John Matrix).

Cover the body, and relocate surrounding passengers, if possible, if you can't move the body to business class (moving a dead body respectfully is very hard).

Apparently there were free seats elsewhere, the pax should have been offered relocation. ~~However it's not clear if the passengers asked. The cabin crew could have been rattled too and forgot.~~

Edit: They apparently asked, I don't see why they couldn't move.