Ryanair sacks six crew members in fake photo row
Ryanair has sacked six cabin crew members who released a staged photo of themselves allegedly sleeping on the floor of a Spanish airport office during a flight delay.
An airline spokesman confirmed today that the Portuguese crew had been dismissed on Monday for gross misconduct.
The image had been widely shared online, which Ryanair said had damaged its reputation and caused an ‘irreparable breach of trust’ with the six crew members.
The photo was taken after more than 20 crew members were stranded at Malaga airport when their Porto-bound flights were diverted due to bad weather on October 14.
Posting the image online, staff claimed that it showed members of the crew had been forced to sleep on the floor because adequate accommodation hadn’t been provided.
However, Ryanair later released CCTV footage which revealed that the photo had been staged. At the time, it said: "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."
The Portuguese union, SNPVAC, had earlier disagreed with Ryanair’s version of events, claiming that crew members had to remain in the crew room from 01:30 to 06:00 ‘without minimum rest facilities’.
The union said that crew members were left ‘without access to food, drinks and even a place to sit down, as there were only eight seats available for the crew’. SNPVAC said staff weren’t moved to a VIP lounge until 06:00.
In a statement released today, Ryanair said: "All six cabin crew members in Porto were dismissed on November 5 for breach of contract on grounds of gross misconduct, after staging a fake photograph to support a false claim (widely reported in international media outlets) that they were ‘forced to sleep on the floor’ of the Malaga crew room, which was behaviour which damaged their employer’s reputation and caused an irreparable breach of trust with these six persons."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025
Higher departure tax and visa cost, e-arrival card: Japan unleashes the fiscal weapon against tourists
Cyclone in Sri Lanka had limited effect on tourism in contrary to media reports
Singapore to forbid entry to undesirable travelers with new no-boarding directive
Euromonitor International unveils world’s top 100 city destinations for 2025