A man died after having a heart attack on board a US jet because his chest hair was too thick to allow for a defibrillator to restart his heart.

Jack Jordan was flying from Albuquerque to Los Angeles on a Southwest Airlines plane when he suffered a massive heart attack 15 minutes before landing. 

Passengers tried to perform CPR on Mr Jordan, whose wife Caroline was travelling with him. When a panicked passenger suggested using the defibrillator, cabin crew claimed it would not be effective as Mr Jordan's chest hair was too thick.

Defibrillators are life-saving devices that jump start the heart with electrical impulses. They come packaged with scissors and razors in order to remove chest hair that might render them useless. 

Mrs Jordan says that eventually her husband's chest was shaved and the device was used, but that he did not recover. 

Southwest Airlines is investigating.