Canadian late for own funeral after coffin misses flight

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

OTTAWA (AFP) — A Canadian family's grief turned to outrage Tuesday after a deceased relative missed his own funeral because his coffin was bumped from a flight home to make room for luggage, media said Tuesday.

Dennis Hamilton died suddenly last week while working in western Canada's oil-rich Alberta province.

His sister-in-law Judy Hamilton told public broadcaster CBC the family was aghast when his remains did not arrive home in easternmost Newfoundland province on time for his funeral.

"You just don't bump a loved one in Montreal and keep him there for a whole night and say, 'They can wait,'" she told CBC. "And let luggage go on? It's not acceptable."

Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick explained that airline staff had tried to expedite the...