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How much does it cost to transport a corpse overseas?

Cargo: Why does it cost so much money to transport a body on a plane?

  • Two Australian women died recently in Bali and it is said to cost approx $100,000 to transport their bodies home. Why would it cost this much?

  • Answer:

    It is primarily because no other cargo can be stacked on top of a coffin nor can it be placed on top of other cargo. And in most international routes, while other cargo is either stuffed on to ULD containers or in case of pallets or crates, secured on to pallet positions; coffins cannot be stacked on to ULD containers. Therefore, coffins are placed on pallet positions and lashed. Also, considering airlines are on thin balance when it comes to load planning; an almost empty pallet position or two are serious challenges for airline load planners. It may mean that load planners might need to offload general cargo, passenger check-in baggage while carrying coffins on a busy international route. Secondarily, comes the additional airport handling required, requirement of speedy transfers and delivery; and on top of that the addl. manpower required to make all this happen.

Jaleel Jalaludeen at Quora Visit the source

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$100k seems to be somewhat extreme. I would submit that the cost was probably far less than that as even 1/10 of that price would be a significant cost. Also because Bali is a few short hours flying time from nearly all of Australia.   As noted other cargo has to be rearranged so that a body can be transported and you can stack things on top of coffins. There's also the fact that specialized types of caskets must be used, there is a great deal of paperwork and handling involved and it's not a common cargo item meaning that the airlines can charge more for it than they would something that they would regularly transport.   Again, unless the family chartered a specific aircraft to retrieve their loved ones at a specific time, I cannot see where $100k would be anything than their being defrauded by a greedy business.   References: http://www.us-funerals.com/funeral-articles/when-death-occurs-away-from-home.html#.VSV5HZMo4dU   And I helped two homeless vets' families have their remains returned home using an airfreights service. It didn't not cost anywhere near the $50k per person noted above,

Jon Mixon

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