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Background: Mitchell Ring (left) and Jennifer Colin (right) appeared on Australia’s “A Current Affair” to discuss their traumatic flight (9Now/Australia). Inset: A photo of Mitchell Ring from the flight (9Now/Australia).
An Australian couple went public after they claimed an airline crew made them share their row with a passenger who died during the flight.
Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin told Australia’s Channel 9 that they were “traumatized” after a recent international flight they took with Qatar Airways. While the date of the flight was not provided, the couple traveled from their home in Melbourne, Australia, to a vacation in Venice, Italy, making a stop in Doha, Qatar. About 10 hours into the long flight, an unidentified woman suffered a medical emergency on board, collapsed in the aisle of the cabin, and was declared dead after attempts to revive her were unsuccessful. Then the crew had to find a place for the woman’s body and saw a spare seat — next to Ring and Colin.
Ring told the outlet, “They said, ‘Can you move over, please?’ And I just said, Yes, no problem.’ Then they placed the lady in the chair I was in.” Colin then incredulously asked, “Are they going to put her there?” referring to the seat that her husband had been sitting in. Colin was offered a new seat nearby, which left Ring sitting next to the blanket-covered corpse for the next four hours of the flight.
According to the couple, the crew did not allow Ring to move to another seat, despite the availability of spare seats.
When the plane finally landed, the flight’s passengers were instructed to remain seated until medical personnel came and removed the deceased woman from her seat. Ring said, “Ambulance officers started pulling the blankets off the lady. I got to see her face. I can’t believe they told us to stay.”
Colin described the experience as “traumatic.” The couple said that while they said the woman’s death was “heartbreaking” and no fault of the airline, but also felt that some care should be extended to anyone else affected by having to sit with the body for hours. Ring said, “They have a duty of care towards their customers as well as their staff. We should be contacted to make sure, ‘Do you need some support, do you need some counseling?’ I don’t really know how I feel and would like to speak to somebody to make sure I’m all right.”
The couple claimed to Channel 9 that Qatar Airways has not reached out to them. When contacted by the Channel 9 program “A Current Affair,” where the couple told their story, Qatar Airways said in a statement, “First and foremost our thoughts are with the family of the passenger who sadly passed away on board our flight. We apologise for any inconvenience or distress this incident may have caused, and are in the process of contacting passengers in line with our policies and procedures.”
Qantas, the company through which the couple booked the flight, said that they would contact the couple directly, but in a statement provided to “A Current Affair,” the airline said, “Ms. Colin booked tickets through Qantas and travelled with Qatar Airways, a fellow Oneworld Alliance carrier. The process for handling incidents onboard an aircraft like this is managed by the operating airline, which in this case is Qatar Airways.”
It is not clear that a lawsuit has been filed.