Passenger dies on Christmas Eve flight to Atlanta, police say

Atlanta police were called to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to investigate Tuesday morning after a passenger died on an inbound flight.

The passenger, who police described as an elderly man, appeared to have died of natural causes, according to police spokesman Carlos Campos. He was traveling from Las Vegas on a Spirit Airlines flight that arrived at 4:20 a.m. on Christmas Eve, he said.

“We offer sincere condolences to the family and friends of our guest and we remain in contact with them to assist in any way we can,” Spirit Airlines said in a statement. “We also thank our crew and medical professionals on board for their quick response to assist.”

Spirit flight attendants are trained to respond to medical emergencies, according to the carrier. They utilize several resources in the event of an emergency, including communicating with designated on-call medical professionals on the ground, using onboard medical kits and receiving assistance from credentialed medical personnel traveling on the flight.

A passenger who said he was on the flight took to Twitter to commend the crew.

The “act of professionalism, character and compassion was amazing and they deserve so much credit for how they handled this emergency,” he said.

There was a medical emergency with a passenger on my flight from LAS to ATL on @spiritairlines flight NK920, and the crews act of professionalism, character and compassion was amazing they deserve so much credit for how they handled this emergency.
— Kofi (@MBOYPHAMOUS) December 24, 2019