A passenger’s account of a death onboard an American Airlines flight to London is another powerful reminder of how fragile life can be, but also a beautiful story that captures how I hope to spend my last days as well.
Elderly Passenger Dies On American Airlines First Class Flight To LHR After Speaking With Grandchildren
An American Airlines flight from Charlotte (CLT) to London (LHR),AA734, diverted to Gander, Canada (YQX) on March 17, 2026 after a medical emergency onboard. While American confirmed the diversion, it offered little detail. But one passenger’s firsthand account paints a vivid and deeply human picture of what happened.
Below is the account, shared by traveler Curt Anderson:
An elderly man passed away on my flight to London.
After delays and reroutes, I ended up in the CLT Admirals Club.
Near me was a husband & wife. Their banter was interesting; I couldn’t help but listen & watch. My flight ended up delayed 20hrs, so I went to a hotel.
Back at the airport the next day, I was ornery. My normal extreme patience was smashed by dumb stuff. I was annoyed that every part of the CLT renovation has made the airport worse, that I had to show a boarding pass to enter the PreCheck Touchless line when Touchless is supposed to use only facial recognition, and the Cinnabon I got with my airline voucher tasted terrible.
Upon boarding, the couple from the night before were settling in next to me. The flight attendant prepared welcome drinks, and the man described how he would like his tea, then thanked the FA saying, “Thank you, I will like that very much.”
For the next half hour, they FaceTimed with their grandkids. The man gleefully talked about being on a big plane, how it would fly to the amazing city of London, and how much he would love to take them on a big plane to London. He told them how much he loved them, and that he’d send photos from London.
He didn’t make it to London.
I went to sleep a few hours into the flight. I got up to use the restroom and saw crew pull him out of a lavatory, lower him to the ground, and rip his shirt open to apply the AED and start CPR. The plane turned around and we diverted to Canada. They concluded CPR about an hour before we landed in Canada.
In Canada, Medical, Police, and Border Patrol boarded. His blanket-wrapped body was lifted into a body bag and zipped.
I helped the woman gather their belongings and showed her the peaceful video of her husband. She exclaimed how lovely it was; I sent her the video to her to have.
Back in the air to London, it was hard to sleep that night. I kept seeing the man being zipped up as I drifted in & out.
When my time comes, I hope it’s something as good as this man got: flying somewhere amazing at an old age, with my wife, after a nice chat with my kids & grandkids…and causing a flight diversion that 350 people will be talking about forever.
There’s something haunting about this story, but also something beautiful.
The man spent his final moments talking with his grandchildren, sharing his excitement about the journey ahead, and sitting beside his wife. He expressed gratitude—even for a simple cup of tea.
We don’t get to choose when or how we go. But if there is any comfort in this story, it is that his last hours were filled with connection, anticipation, and love.
Honestly, what a great way to go. Anderson captured this story so well…goodness, I hope it is not fake news…but even if it somehow is, there’s something about beautiful about your final moments in life being spent chatting with kids and grandkids next to your spouse in first class on a transatlantic flight.
The future is not ours to see, but I certainly hope that my wife and I can also travel together until we breath our last. Sure, I guess I’d rather go in my own bed than on a plane (and thereby inconvenience over 300 other passengers), but if that’s my time, that’s my time.
I love the last verse of Rock of Ages, which seems to fit well here…
CONCLUSION
This tragic incident onboard AA734 is a reminder that life can change instantly, especially when we least expect it, like on a flight. But it also underscores something deeper: the importance of presence, gratitude, and the people we share our journeys with.
image: American Airlines
While I weary questioning the veracity of everything on social media, for this story I’ll choose faith. If I need to choose between the beauty of gratitude and love over cynicism, I’ll take the former.
Legit – avgeek part being AA started flying the 773 out of CLT which has the first class cabin
Better to die happy and at peace with the world than bitter and alone. Why waste a miracle of something so precious.
May their memory be eternal.
Tennen, follow the link to curtanderson’s Instagram posting of the short “peaceful video of her husband.” It shows a guy, presumably the husband, using his phone for a few seconds, followed by the empty seat, not CPR or someone passing.
Am I missing something? What’s the “peaceful video of her husband?” Did he take a video of the crew performing CPR and/or of the guy passing? And showed that to her? Seems insensitive to do that when someone’s grieving and traumatized. Also, there’s already limited space so having a bystander in the way doesn’t seem right, either. So confused…
I think the “peaceful video” (not posted) was the man talking to his grandchildren on FaceTime while waiting for his flight. Rude, in one way, but what a precious memory for those grandchildren.
I hope the wife has knowledge of what to do financially, like estate tax return. Then perhaps move to Nevada to save on state income tax. Certainly, do not live in New York, Washington state, Maryland, Illinois, Minnesota, Massachusetts or a few other states that have estate tax. Some of those states have a low estate tax threshold, much lower than federal. Federal estate tax is 40%. Washington state can be as high as 35% though they lower it slightly and lower the threshold because too many elderly people were moving out of state.
Really? That’s what went through your mind after reading this touching article? Wow….that pretty much sums up who you are. How pathetic…..
I’ve always believed that America would be much better off if we could create one state with basically no tax and no responsibilities or limitations on ownership and use of firearms. It would attract all the best people. I’d even kick in airfare to help interested citizens move there.
Quite touching. Also, curtanderson needs to understand that very few people are registered for touchless. If someone without touchless gets in the touchless line, they must exit that line or be allowed to effectively queue jump. You show the boarding pass to enter the line. Nothing needs to be touched. And you show no id or boarding pass to get through the remaining process. You will still have to show a boarding pass to get on the plane, so chill.
“I had to show a boarding pass to enter the PreCheck Touchless line” Has this person never used PreCheck before?
So sad, but touching. The ties we have with family, friends are so fragile. Glad he was able to covey Love and Joy in a final message.
Looks like the man was in 1A and Curt in 1D.
So where does wife sit?
And Curt probably recorded because he was going to rant about him not using headphones.
2A perhaps?
But yes, I thought that too – the guy was probably going to complain about the old man not using headphones for his FaceTime call.
IF he already died in the air, could not done divert to Maine and save the family the headache of a cross border repatriation of the deceased?
The only real diversion airport in ME would be PWM, and at that point, you might as well fly to BOS. But point is that Gander is about 900 miles closer to Europe.
I did a radio interview with Albert Sabin, inventor of the oral polio vaccine, and after he wrote a book about death. I asked him if he had thought about how he’d like to die. He said he wanted to go to bed with lots of plans tor the next day and not wake up. This man seems to have had that experience; it’s about the best we can hope for.
Agreed!
This curtanderson guy needs to take writing/story-telling lessons.