WHAT HAPPENS IF A PASSENGER DIES ON THE PLANE?

PEOPLE

 

What Happens If a Passenger Dies on the Plane? An Expert Explains the Protocol

By Natalia Senanayake  Published on December 28, 2025 08:00PM EST

 

An airport mortuary coordinator is walking through the strict protocols he and his team must follow in the rare instance a plane passenger dies during their flight.

 

Ben Vos is the coordinator at Mortuarium Schiphol (Schiphol Mortuary), a unique facility located on-site at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport that is completely off the radar of the thousands of travelers that pass through each day.

 

While some may find his job to be grim, Vos detailed the important work he does at the mortuary, including the responsibility that comes with handling a deceased traveler, in a recent interview with CNN Travel.

 

Per its website, the mortuary — which sits behind the CitizenM Schiphol Airport hotel — provides its services 24/7, with Vos overseeing the process of arranging postmortem care for the late travelers “hundreds of times a year,” CNN reports. While rare, Vos also handles the aftermath of onboard incidents if a passenger were to die on the plane.

 

In September, he took on such a case when a passenger passed away on their flight from Asia to the Netherlands.

 

While detailing the proper protocol in an instance like this, Vos told CNN that he first received a phone call from air traffic control at 5 a.m. informing him of the news.

 

Upon the aircraft touching down at 6 a.m., Vos arrived to meet it alongside a member of the Netherlands police force that deals with border control, called the Koninklijke Marechaussee. The coroner also accompanied the pair and determined the preliminary cause of death was a heart attack, according to the outlet.

 

The trio made their way onto the plane only after all passengers had disembarked, followed by the coroner conducting an initial evaluation of the deceased. After the passenger was placed in a body bag for removal from the aircraft, they were then transported though an emergency exit behind the wings.

 

Vos emphasized that privacy is a top priority in all cases he handles, out of respect for the deceased and their families.

 

“There’s a special vehicle that comes right to the plane. We can go out of the plane and directly into the vehicle, so lots of people don’t see what we do at the airport,” he told CNN.

 

From there, Vos and his team of three people, followed the strict protocol when it comes to the repatriation of mortal remains, or RMR. The process sees the team preparing deceased individuals for flights out of the Netherlands, or to funeral homes within a 1,000-mile driving distance.

 

Part of the undertaking includes making arrangements with embalming teams, coordinating with medical facilities if certain organs need to be donated and connecting families with companies that run cremation services.

 

As some people may find the process daunting, Schiphol Mortuary set up its own TikTok account to give curious social media users a glimpse of the daily tasks they carry out, as well as short tours of the mortuary.

 

Each country has its own guidelines for repatriating human remains, as the United States requires a death certificate for a deceased individual returning to the country for burial or cremation, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

 

The death certificate must be translated to English if it is in another language, and the remains must be prepared and shipped in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requirements, according to the federal agency.

 

Though Vos’ job is a demanding one all year round — he tells CNN that Schiphol Mortuary is open around the clock, with him taking calls at any hour of the day — winter tends to be the busiest due to ski trips or travelers seeking warm weather.

 

“Lots of Dutch citizens are going to Spain, to Portugal, but they are old and they pass away there,” he says.

 

As Vos has been in the industry for about 35 years, he’s noticed such patterns throughout his career. However, he says the most rewarding part for him will always be providing the care and comfort a deceased traveler’s family needs when they are forced to deal with such a devastating loss.

 

“This gives you a great feeling, when you have finished the job with the deceased person and [their] family,” he tells the outlet. “When everything’s done well, that’s the satisfaction.”