Sunglasses, newspapers, and vodka tonic to disguise dead passengers on planes

Death may be one of life’s certainties, but if someone dies aboard and aircraft at 30,000 feet then cabin crews are known to try and disguise their condition with sunglasses, a newspapers, and a vodka tonic.

The methods for dealing with a dead passenger aboard BA aircraft as asleep are revealed in the BBC documentary A Very British Airline broadcast next week, where it is also explained that crew are asked not to store dead bodies in the toilet, as once rigor mortis sets in it can be very difficult to remove them from such a confined space.

Since the programme was filmed, British Airways has now said that they have revised their guidelines, and now says that dead passengers are no longer treated as asleep, and are moved to a spare first class seat if one is available.

A Very British Airline is scheduled for broadcast at 21:00 on Monday on BBC2.