Aer Lingus flies fall victim’s remains

AER LINGUS is to review its policy on transporting bodies as the mother of a young man who died in Australia revealed she spent days attempting to sort out the return of his remains.

Eileen Clifford said plans for the return of her son Noel’s remains were held up because Aer Lingus initially refused to transfer the coffin home from Heathrow Airport in London.

Mr Clifford, a 23-year-old chef, died after falling from a balcony during a party in Sydney on Saturday, September 18. His body was then held for a week by Australian authorities.

The family wanted to transfer his body from a Qantas flight which had brought it from Australia onto an Aer Lingus plane bound for Shannon or Cork. The company refused, said Mrs Clifford.

It was only after some days that Aer Lingus agreed to help organise the transfer. While the Clifford family were grieving in Kerry for their son, they were also fielding dozens of calls as they attempted to organise the transport of the body.

Mrs Clifford, who has three other children, and her husband John, chairman of Laune Rangers GAA Club, believe the intervention of local TD and Minister John O’Donoghue led to the airline relenting.

Sources in the company deny this and said an exception had been made before the intervention of the Arts Minister.

The company has stopped taking Irish-bound cargo off flights into London and other major European cities and from next January will stop carrying all cargo on short-haul flights from Britain and Europe.

Between 1,100 and 1,200 bodies are returned to Ireland on Aer Lingus every year, mostly from Britain. It costs €280 for a body to be flown from Britain.

The Irish Association of Funeral Directors has criticised the present policy on transfers and the planned scrapping of cargo flights. The association said its understanding was that Aer Lingus would not take any coffins and was prepared to absorb any criticism.

But an Aer Lingus spokeswoman said: “We are in discussions with the association as to what provisions we can make for the carriage of human remains. We are certainly involved in dialogue as to how we will be able to proceed in the future.”

The airline, while committed to its policy of not carrying cargo, may make an exception for human remains, it appears.

Mrs Clifford said: “The Irish Welfare Association in Sydney took over all the arrangements ... they told us getting from Sydney to Heathrow was no problem but that Aer Lingus were not taking any coffins from one carrier to another carrier in London. It meant the body could not fly Aer Lingus.”

The family could have made arrangements with British Midland into Dublin but that would have involved a six-hour drive as opposed to a couple of hours from Shannon or Cork. This was after having to wait nearly a week before the body was released by the Australian authorities.

Mrs Clifford added: “Compassion has gone out the window. I was not prepared for this cost-cutting. It is our national airline, yet they cannot afford to bring home those who always dreamed and left in their will that they be brought home to be buried in Ireland.”