Airline mistake in transferring father’s body cost his final wish, daughter says

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC/Gray News) - A two-minute miss during a flight transfer kept a Tennessee family from having a final viewing of their father, according to his daughter.

Marvin “Ed” Morgan spent years as the track announcer at Gleason Raceway, a drag strip in Weakley County, Tennessee, before a progressive illness forced him to retire and he moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, to live with his daughter, Crystal Ladd.

“I know you got a good home for me in Florida, but I know you got a better home for me in heaven,” Morgan said last May.

He died in June of this year.

“So, you know, I got a chance to say my goodbyes to dad because he died here. In fact, he died in this room where I’m sitting. So, I had a chance to tell him goodbye, but his other family members didn’t,” Ladd said.

Father’s final wish

Morgan wanted to return to Sidonia in West Tennessee, where he lived his entire life and raised his family alongside his wife of more than 50 years. His daughter says his final wish was for his brothers, son and grandson in Weakley County to see him one last time before burial.

“That was his wish. And I said, ‘I need you to understand something because I know how things can happen during transit.’ I said, ‘Dad, I’m going to try my best to make this happen,’” Ladd said.

Ladd hired Eagle Wings Air, a transportation management company that coordinates air travel for human remains. Morgan’s body was booked on Delta Air Lines on June 15, with an original flight schedule departing West Palm Beach at 11:03 a.m. Eastern, a four-hour layover in Atlanta and a connecting flight leaving Atlanta at 4:26 p.m. Eastern, landing in Memphis, Tennessee, at 4:49 p.m. Central.

Missed deadline by two minutes

At Memphis International Airport, human remains must be picked up from Delta’s cargo facility by 7 p.m. Morgan’s body was scheduled to arrive two hours before that deadline. But when the receiving funeral home arrived to transfer his remains to a refrigerator before his funeral, he was not on his flight.

WMC’s Impact Team reviewed flight data and found the flight carrying Morgan was delayed about two hours in West Palm Beach, arriving at the gate in Atlanta at 2:57 p.m. According to Delta policy, human remains cargo must arrive a minimum of two hours before departure for transfer. The connecting flight to Memphis left the gate at 4:55 p.m., meaning Morgan’s body missed the two-hour transfer window by two minutes.

“There were flight delays, but did it affect things? Should it have affected things? No,” Ladd said. “But him not getting transferred in Atlanta was absolutely preventable. Not only was it preventable, it should have never happened.”

According to Bureau of Transportation Statistics data from a June 2026 consumer report, just under 73% of flights arrived on time that month. Delta had one of the best on-time arrival rates at about 80.8%.

Airline policy and aftermath

According to a Delta spokesperson, specialized cargo is given “the highest level of shipping priority among all shipments.” When flights experience delays, Delta’s protocol is to book the special cargo onto the next available flight.

Morgan’s body was put on a flight arriving in Memphis after 8 p.m., which was after the cargo facility closed. There is no refrigerator on site. His body sat in the facility overnight for hours. By the time the funeral director got access the next morning, the body was too decomposed for viewing.

“I was unable to keep one of my dad’s final wishes. I wanted to try to make all of these things happen for him, and it could have,” Ladd said.

Ladd said the airline violated its policy by not making her father a priority just two minutes after the transfer cutoff and by placing him on a flight the airline knew would arrive after the cargo facility closed.

“How does that make you feel as a customer?” Cook asked.

“So many things. Definitely not valued. Meaning myself, but more than me, my dad,” Ladd said. “And these are things that you have to live with forever. So, I just don’t want anybody else to ever have to go through this again.”

Final trip to the track

Despite his family never having a final viewing, Morgan made it home and is buried next to his wife. Before he was laid to rest, Ladd was able to fulfill one additional wish: a final trip down the track he loved.

“He loved racing,” Ladd said. “But drag racing and talking were his life and his friends.”

Why the body was not embalmed

Morgan’s body was not embalmed before the trip back to West Tennessee. Ladd said it was for spiritual reasons and was her father’s request. Delta was aware of the choice, and the airline does not require embalming per its website.

It is unclear how widespread this issue is. The Impact Team requested data from multiple transportation agencies on complaints surrounding the shipping of human remains but all said they do not collect that data. The Impact Team has learned that the data is collected by individual airlines, but that information is not made public.

Eagle Wings Air refunded Morgan’s family and personally apologized. Delta also offered condolences and, according to Ladd, is still investigating the incident.

The Impact Team spoke to multiple funeral directors who agreed that air travel is still the best option for moving remains across state lines. Eagle Wings Air said ground transportation should be considered for shorter regional or local trips but said incidents like the one experienced by Ladd are rare out of the thousands of transfers the company has made over the years.