Couple Had to Sit Next to Body After Woman Died Midflight

[Coventina]

An Australian couple’s dream trip to Venice turned into a nightmare when flight attendants asked them to stay seated next to the body of a passenger who had died midflight for the final four hours of a 14-hour trip from Melbourne, Australia, to Doha, Qatar.

When a passenger collapsed during the flight, flight attendants tried to save her but were unsuccessful, Mitchell Ring, another passenger on the flight, said in an interview with an Australian news program, “A Current Affair,” on Channel 9. “They did everything they could, but unfortunately the lady couldn’t be saved, which was pretty heartbreaking to watch,” he said.

The crew tried to move the body to business class using a wheelchair, but it was too large to be moved through the aisle, Mr. Ring said in the interview. The flight attendants then saw that there were two open seats in the row of four seats where Mr. Ring and his wife, Jennifer Colin, were seated. They asked Mr. Ring to move over one seat, and placed the body in the seat where he had been sitting. Ms. Colin moved to a different row of seats.

Through tears, Ms. Colin, described the experience as shocking. “I’m not a great flyer at the best of times,” she said in the interview.

Upon landing, Mr. Ring said, he was told to stay seated as paramedics removed blankets from the body. The couple said in the interview that the airline had not offered them support.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/26/world/europe/dead-body-flight-qatar-airways.html

*************************************************************************************

Yikes!!

I get that maybe they did the best they could while in the air, but jeez!!
Do something for the poor couple!!!

[PJMcK]

1. "The poor couple"?

The lady died. The flight attendants struggled to save her life. A passenger died mid-flight.

My empathy is not for the couple. They are fine. They got to their destination, unlike the dead woman. My empathy is for the family and friends of the dead woman and also for the flight attendants who will have to live with the experience of having their passenger die in front of them. Let's not forget the pilots who are responsible for the lives on board nor the paramedics who had to remove the corpse from the plane. Everyone will benefit from some counseling.

The Australian couple should be a little less self-focused.

Just my opinion.

[malaise]

5. This is afirst

I disagree with you.
If there was room for the deceased passenger in business class, then there was room for the couple. Attendants were grossly insensitive,

[lapfog_1]

6. I would sue the airlines for doing this to me as a passenger

for the very simple reason that their actions exposed me to undo risk.

We don't know, and the flight attendants don't know, what the hell she died from. Heart attack? Possibly. Some other factors like a virus or infection... possible.

They could have taken the dead body and put it in a lavatory and marked it as out of service. The dead don't really care how comfortable they are. Almost all airliners have multiple bathrooms... so this should have been protocol. Wrap the body up in blankets ( not to be reused ) and put it in a lavatory.

[malaise]

7. All they had to do was upgrade the couple

To the same clearly empty row in business class where they were planning to place the deceased woman.

[lapfog_1]

8. yeah, but I don't want a dead body in the row in front of me

possibly leaking fluids out of his/her body.

I don't want to be the next passenger that gets the seat where the body was kept.

Once the passenger was determined to be dead... they should have put it someplace away from other passengers.

In fact, they should have a body bag someplace on board...

There are many stories of people that catch things like Ebola or Marburg that die while trying to travel to a location with a modern hospital. They was not likely the case here, but it shouldn't be the flight attendants making that call.

[malaise]

11. Agree

Hope they sue

[hlthe2b]

2. I'm sure there were probably some non-laypeople (medically-trained or even law enforcement)

who would have dealt with being seated next to the poor deceased better than that couple. Perhaps even those who helped with resuscitation efforts... It was a bad situation, but it could have been handled better, and the airline ought to do something for all involved.

[malaise]

3. I hope they sue

They should have been upgraded to business class.
Despicable , insensitive behavior from the flight attendants

[Wingus Dingus]

4. Why would they need "support"? It's sad and unpleasant but sometimes

people die in inconvenient places and times.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. Not a first.

It happened to someone I know and the freebies she gets to this day makes you want to be next to someone who dies in midflight.

[malaise]

12. Yep

You don’t pay for a dead person sitting next to you.
I am totally with the couple.

[Baitball Blogger]

13. The women gets free flights and hotel stays. And she's one of the first ones allowed on the plane when

it's time for seating. Plus, she has a hell of a story to tell.

[malaise]

14. Good

Rec

[intheflow]

10. Man, people are so incredibly self-centered.

So sorry this woman had the AUDACITY to die on your flight. It’s not like she died of something infectious. The couple could have reacted like, “Whoa! Have we got a travel story for you!” and laughed about as their own personal foray into News Of The Weird. They could have reacted lovingly, sitting with the woman until her family could join her. But no, this woman’s death is ALL ABOUT THEM. I am really sick of the society that makes everything about them. Sometimes it’s really not about you, people!

[DeepWinter]

16. Threads like this

make me wish we could downvote.

[DeepWinter]

15. I don't see this as a big deal

A little empathy for the dead, people.

I've certainly sat next to horrible living people. I'd trade for that seat in a heartbeat.