Airline sorry for dead child error

AN airline has apologised to a man after he was led to believe one of his children had died on a flight from Melbourne to London.

Briton Chris Miller was told a flight carrying his partner and children had landed in India because another passenger had fallen ill, the BBC reported.

He also learnt his children had been taken for treatment for chicken pox.

But when the other passenger, a 22-year-old male backpacker, died, staff from the Emirates airline contacted Mr Miller by mistake.

Mr Miller said on the BBC that a staff member had passed on details for "the undertakers dealing with the body".

The British father said he was stunned and a wave of grief and disbelief swept over him.

"At that point I believed one of my family was dead," he told the BBC.

"I said 'what happened, what's going on?' but they put the phone down on me.

"I ended up sitting in a state of utter disbelief and shock, my whole life was falling apart."

Mr Miller said the airline realised its mistake and rang back within "10 seconds" to say there's been a mistake.

Mr Miller said he deserved compensation beyond the complimentary ticket he was offered to travel to see his family.

"Obviously, to Emirates, putting a family through absolute hell is worth nothing," he said.

In a statement, the airline said it had apologised to Mr Miller and that staff had been deeply distressed by the mix up.

"There were exceptional circumstances surrounding the flight from Melbourne which involved a young man being taken seriously ill on board and dying in tragic circumstances," Emirates said.

"It was a distressing period for both our staff and passengers."

Original here