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Ever wondered why the plane passenger next to you, hiding behind sunglasses and nursing a vodka tonic, wasn’t very ­chatty?

It could be because they were DEAD.

The bizarre techniques that ­cabin crew have used for dealing with people who die in-flight are ­revealed in a BBC documentary about British Airways, reports the Sunday People.

A ­woman trainer tells a roomful of recruits: “Many years ago we used to give them a vodka and tonic, a Daily Mail and eye shades and tell ­passengers they were fine.

“We don’t do that any more. Now you would cover them in a blanket up to their neck.”

Under no circumstances should they put corpses in the toilets.

The trainer says: “In a nice easy world, if somebody dies, which someone dying on an aircraft isn’t, you put them back in their seat.

"I know crew who had to sit next to somebody who had passed away for the rest of the flight.

“The main thing is you cannot block a door, you cannot put a dead passenger in a toilet.

“It is not respectful and also they are not strapped in for landing.”

Explaining the difficulties of removing the body once rigor ­mortis sets in, the trainer says: “If they slid off the toilet and you land they will end up on the floor and they have to take the aircraft apart to get that person out.”

The documentary also reveals the high standards demanded by BA, who are recruiting younger, cheaper cabin crew.

A year’s wages for a hostess are barely more than the top-price £9,500 Clubworld ticket to LA.

A Very British Airline, BBC2, 9pm on Monday