Man: Airline Lost My Dead Wife's Body

60-Year-Old Sues American Airlines, Claiming Wife's Remains Were Sent To Wrong Country

(AP)  A man who tried to send his late wife's body to their native Ecuador for burial is suing American Airlines and a funeral home, claiming her remains were sent to the wrong country.

Miguel Olaya, 60, says he hired the DeRiso Funeral Home in New York City to ship his wife's body to Guayaquil, Ecuador, on April 1, but the coffin wasn't at the airport when he went to meet it. He also claims the body was badly decomposed because it wasn't properly embalmed.

Christopher Robles, Olaya's lawyer, said the airline gave his client conflicting stories.

"First, they didn't know where her body was. Then, they said maybe it was in Miami, and finally they said it was in Guatemala," the lawyer said Tuesday. "Instead of sending it on the flight to Guayaquil, American sent the body to Guatemala City."

The lawyer said Olaya could not collect his wife's remains until April 4. "The body was missing for four days," he said.

Funeral director Kathleen DeRiso said someone at American punched in the wrong airport code. She said they wrote GUA for Guatemala instead of GYE for Guayaquil.

"It was not our error," DeRiso said, adding that the body was properly embalmed and "there was no decomposition." She said it was the first time in her 18 years of dealing with American that such a mistake had happened.

American spokeswoman Jennifer Pemberton said her company was researching the situation but could not comment because of the pending litigation.

Olaya's lawsuit, filed last week in state Supreme Court, accuses the airline and funeral home of negligence and asks for unspecified damages.

Olaya's wife, Teresa, died of pelvic cancer at age 57 on March 28.

[nothappyatall]

Oh brother, so she was "lost" for 4 days, he still GOT the shipment.

"He also claims the body was badly decomposed because it wasn''t properly embalmed. "

He can "claim" whatever he likes, but unless he is a funeral director his claim is meaningless, besides, the woman is DEAD, embalming does not preserve the body in pristine condition forever! It''s designed to preserve the look for the funeral/open casket and reduce disease risks.

[rowdyheckno]

Posted by Pensacola98 at 07:16 PM : Sep 10, 2008

What''s the big deal! If somebody doesn''t want to study a foreign languge, why is that a problem to YOU?

AND who gives you the right to call them ignorant or insular. Who the hell are you?

[hereticzero-2009]

OneWorldUSA:
Let the jury decide or settle out of court. I believe this may fall under breach of contract, I''m no attorney so don''t set this in concrete. Get an attorney and try to push for a settlement for pain and suffering.

[oneworldusa]

My dad had a veteran''s military burial plot. The cemetery failed to honor this prearrangement, and the family had to come together to ''donate'' another inherited plot in order to have his burial take place in a reasonable period of time.

A few months later, the funeral home calls and says, "We found the paperwork, yes, he has his own plot!" We are considering suing, as we had his paperwork and presented it, but the cemetery failed to honor it. Once realized, the cemetery simply says, well, then, I guess you kids have inherited a cemetery plot.

How much should we sue for?

[pensacola98]

Anyone who just wants to speak one language their whole life has a very small mind and directs their life towards ignorance like a blind man walking off a cliff.

Those, who only speak, French in Quebec, Canada, Spanish in any Latin Country, or just English in the USA, clearly live in the fantasy world of pride and ignorance.

Speaking only one language practically tells people you desire to be disadvantaged and exploited. It calls misfortune to you. It tells people you don''t want to learn and are proud that you stopped learning.
It is like saying, I am willing to work all my life and then risk losing everything over some simple thing I could have learned if I had used better sense.

There is nothing more sad than a student who gave up on himself and reassured himself with popular beliefs that ignorance is cool.

The founders of this country in the 13 colonies spoke many languages, but only decided to write the constitution in English, because it was that country the USA was revolting from. The official recognition of independence for the USA was in Paris, France in 1783 and written in several languages!

With multi-lingual capability, any person can create more perspectives and opportunites for theirself, because many blindspots are revealed in the limitations of a single language mindset.

[maddsthatte1]

It''s too bad. Sounds about right for American Airlines or all of them for that matter.

[rosesnpearls]

Sorry for the wrong post. My computer burped or something and changed stories while I was typing my response to the Obama Lipstick story. I am sorry for putting inappropriate dialogue on a story about a man who lost his wife.

[thevicar1]

Having lost my wife to cancer and other compelling forces in life, I hardly consider a language barrier to be the instigating factor for such tragic circumstances of mishandling the dead. It is truly sad and a compounding of pain for survivors --------------------------------------- Posted by mjlewis6


Actually, I have DOZENS of friends and family members who have died from all sorts of things, and I STILL see this guy as a gold-digging losermagrant, and the story IS laughable.
Lighten up Lewis! People die all the time, you are gonna die, I am gonna die. See a little humor in things and you might put off your dying a little longer!!!

[thevicar1]

Guatemala, Ecuador whats the difference? They are all a bunch of indigent border jumping illegal thieving ******* immigrunts ----------------------------------------------------- Posted by SkyFive


Yeah, but if he gets a good enough lawyer, he might just end up a RICH, indigent border jumping illegal thieving ******* immigrunt!!!

[thevicar1]

You are the LOWEST piece of $hit I have ever encountered. ------------------------------------------------------ Posted by diatreme


No, someone who would refer to another human being in that tone of voice is surely lower.

[scottyusa]

I am sure he will sue for millions and soon forget all his problems. I can see suing the airline but why the funeral parlor? He is at least acting like a red blooded american.

[thevicar1]

This is very sad, but despite what the American Airline PR Dept might say, her body was just another piece of cargo to them ------------------------------------------------------ Posted by gce65


Thats why cockpit communications always refer to the number of ''souls'' on board. Anything else is either cargo or carry-on (carrion)!

[jlmaly]

Sounds like American Airlines hasn''t improved much since back in 1978 and again in 2002 when they either totally lost or misdirected my luggage, both times on vacation trips between Chicago and Mexico. Pretty sad performance for a major airlines. And that was just luggage. Maybe the agents need a brush-up on their geography...

[slim1h2o]

I heard that the Airlines where looking for ways to get rid of the dead weight, but this ridiculous.

[gce65]

This is very sad, but despite what the American Airline PR Dept might say, her body was just another piece of cargo to them.

[airboatboy]

He should have flown with her. It woulda kinda been like "a Weekend at Bernie''s".

[gop_fornever]

Did he have to pay for one or two bags?

[hbevis]

There is too much emphasis put on the human body after death. Be good to those you love while they are alive and simply let them go when they die.

Posted by barbaraf4 at 03:41 PM : Sep 10, 2008

You are right but I would not like to lose the body of anyone, much less a family member.

[barbaraf4]

There is too much emphasis put on the human body after death. Be good to those you love while they are alive and simply let them go when they die.

[observer2020]

A man was checking in his bags at the airport and said, I want this one to go to Hawaii, this one to Germany, and this one to Miami. The ticket counter person said, we are not the post office, we can''t send these to different places. The man replied, why, that''s what happened last time!