Melbourne: An Australian couple shared a harrowing experience of their flight journey from Melbourne to Doha. The couple recalled that they were forced to sit beside a dead woman for hours as she died during the long-haul Qatar Airways flight, reported the Australian website Current Affair.
As per the couple, after going to the toilet, the woman collapsed in the aisle. However, she could not be revived. After that Mitchell Ring and his wife Jennifer Colin had to spend the entire journey with the dead body and the crew decided to put the woman’s body in the row of the couple for the remaining four hours of the journey.
The couple told the website that they were traumatised by the incident. “They tried to wheel her up towards business class, but she was quite a large lady and they couldn't get her through the aisle,” Ring told Current Affair.
“They looked a bit frustrated, then they just looked at me and saw seats were available beside me, my wife was on the other side, we were in a row of four,” he added.
The couple alleged that the cabin crew did not offer them different seats to move to even though there were several spare seats available on the flight. Ring further claimed that the cabin crew asked him to stay seated.
Ring also said that Qatar Airways did not offer them any support. After the couple narrated their ordeal to Current Affair, the airline said that it would speak to Ring and Colin directly.
"Ms Colin booked tickets through Qantas and travelled with Qatar Airways, a fellow Oneworld Alliance carrier," a Qatar Airways spokesperson said as quoted by the website. "The process for handling incidents onboard an aircraft like this is managed by the operating airline, which in this case is Qatar Airways," the spokesperson added.
Qatar Airways even apologised to the couple for the inconvenience caused due to the incident.
