[Image: Gencraft / AI]
A married couple’s long-haul flight turned into a scene straight out of a dark comedy when they were assigned a new seatmate—a dead woman.
No, you’re not misreading that. Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin were on a Qatar Airways flight from Melbourne to Doha when airline staff decided the best place to park a deceased passenger was right next to them. The woman had suffered a medical emergency mid-flight and, unfortunately, did not make it, per VICE.
“Unfortunately, the lady couldn’t be saved, which was pretty heartbreaking to watch,” Ring siad. “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.”
So what did they do instead? Naturally, they looked around, saw Ring sitting comfortably, and thought, Perfect!
“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, and we were in a row of four,” he said. “They said, ‘Can you move over please?’ and I just said, ‘Yes, no problem.’”
A moment later, his seat was occupied—not by another living, breathing passenger, but by a blanket-covered corpse. And despite the fact that Ring could see empty seats elsewhere, the airline staff apparently thought this arrangement was just fine.
For the next four hours, he and his wife had the distinct privilege of sitting next to their very own airborne mortuary.
But the surreal experience didn’t end there. Once they landed, the couple was asked to remain seated so medical personnel could remove the body—because, apparently, after hours of enforced proximity to a deceased stranger, a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt.
And in case you were wondering, no, no one from the airline has reached out to check if the couple is okay after their unexpected brush with airborne mortality.
“I don’t really know how I feel and would like to speak to somebody to make sure I’m alright,” Ring admitted.
As for Qatar Airways? They issued a statement expressing their condolences to the deceased passenger’s family and apologized for any “inconvenience or distress” caused— AKA, a little casual corpse-sharing between passengers.
[Source: Vice]
