Ryanair has sacked all six cabin crewmembers who were filmed sleeping on the floor of a Spanish airport office last month after a flight was diverted.
An image of the crew apparently sleeping on the floor in Malaga Airport was shared widely – but there’s more to the story. Ryanair claimed the whole thing was staged – and produced CCTV footage that backed its claim.
The initial picture of cabin crew suggested the airline had treated them poorly, failing to provide them with accommodation when they were stranded by a storm. The airline copped a lot of criticism for that after someone tweeted the picture, saying Ryanair was “earning €1.25 billion this year but will not put stranded crews in a hotel for the night”.
The CCTV footage, however, showed it was an obvious set-up. The video shows crew getting up from chairs and lying on the floor for a staged photograph, while someone directs the composition and takes a photo with a phone.
In a statement at the time, Ryanair said: “This picture is clearly staged and no crew ‘slept on the floor’. Due to storms in Porto a number of flights diverted to Malaga and as this was a Spanish national holiday, hotels were fully booked.
“The crew spent a short period of time in the crew room before being moved to a VIP lounge, and returned to Porto the next day (none of the crew operated flights).”
Now, the airline has pounced – firing all the cabin crew involved for “gross misconduct”.
Ryanair said the photo had led to media reports that damaged the company’s reputation and “caused an irreparable breach of trust with these six persons”, the BBC reported.
Written by Peter Needham
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