Complain all you will about the hassle of airline travel. I bet you've never had to sit next to a corpse on a flight. 

That's exactly what happened to a couple flying from Melbourne, Australia, to Doha, Qatar, en route to their dream trip to Venice, Italy. 

When Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin found their seats during boarding, they were elated to learn they'd have a row to themselves for the long-haul flight. Their joy, however, would be short-lived. 

Partway through the flight, a "large lady" collapsed in the aisle next to their seats. 

"Unfortunately the lady couldn't be saved, which was pretty heartbreaking to watch," Ring told A Current Affair.

"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," he added. 

"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."

"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."

A Current Affair reported, "Ring spent the remaining hours of the flight in the same row as the corpse."

The correct answer when being asked whether you'd like to spend the rest of your flight with a dead body is: ABSOLUTELY NOT, especially when there are multiple open seats on the plane as there were in this case. Better to sit in the lavatory than in a row with a corpse, I always say.  

Colin, who described herself as a nervous flyer, got to move to the row behind her husband and the corpse, but that didn't blunt the trauma. 

Once the flight landed, the couple thought they could escape the macabre scene, but the flight attendants said not so fast. Ring was ordered to remain seated while a medical crew came and examined the scene after taking the blankets off the unfortunate victim as he sat there helplessly. 

"I don't really know how I feel and would like to speak to somebody to make sure I'm alright," Ring said. 

Colin added, "I'm trying to make the best of a pretty hard situation, but, you know, we're on holidays, so we're really trying to have a good time." 

Our family motto for vacations is "Just go with it." We may have to rethink that in light of this story. I'm not sure why Ring didn't ask to switch to a different seat, seeing as there were several open. Could it be that he, like many travelers, was cowed into remaining silent, fearing a reprimand from the flight crew? 

At any rate, this was a nightmare not only for Colin and Ring but for the unfortunate deceased woman and her family. 

The airline released a statement today, saying the flight crew acted appropriately. 

At Qatar Airways we deeply sympathise with all those involved in this sad situation, and our thoughts remain with the family members of the passenger who passed away on board our flight.

It is an unfortunate reality that unexpected deaths do sometimes occur on board aircraft across the aviation industry and our crew are highly trained to deal with these situations with as much respect and dignity as possible.

After an internal review, it is clear that Qatar Airways cabin crew acted quickly, appropriately and professionally at all times in line with training and industry standard practice.

Passengers were accommodated to other seats, and a crew member was sitting at all times with the deceased passenger for the duration of the flight until landing in Doha.*

We have been in direct contact with the family of the deceased as well as other passengers who were directly affected by this difficult situation and have offered emotional support and compensation.

*You thought your job was bad? 

According to a website called Flight-Delayed," In-flight medical emergencies occurred at a rate of 18.2 incidents per million passengers globally in 2021." The mortality rate from in-flight medical emergencies is estimated to be 0.21 deaths per million passengers. "If we take that data and consider that in 2021, 2.2 billion traveled by plane, this means that there were approximately 460 deaths on planes that year. However, 2021 was a particular year for air travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, the number of airline passengers shot back up to pre-COVID levels, reaching 4.6 billion." The most common medical emergencies were pulmonary embolisms, cardiac arrests, and respiratory issues. 

The site says that in the event of an in-flight death, the flight crew "will do what they can to move the body to a more secluded area. This could mean crew rest area, the forward galley area, or an empty row of seats. When this is not possible, and moving the passengers around the body is also not possible (i.e., the plane is full), the most likely scenario is that the plane would be diverted to the nearest available airport."