Drunken British Airways cabin crew and pilots are ‘risking their jobs’ by repeatedly causing havoc in luxury hotels during long-haul trips.
Staff received a furious email from bosses telling them to curb their behaviour, after a flight attendant was caught running naked around their accommodation’s corridors naked and a pilot tried to steal fish from a lobby pond.
Johannesburg, Las Vegas, Bangkok and Singapore are some of the cities where BA employees’ behaviour has been notorious.
The controversy centres around the carrier’s mixed fleet crews, which were set up in 2010 and are typically comprised of younger staff on lower wages.
Drunken British Airways cabin crew and pilots are ‘risking their jobs’ by repeatedly causing havoc in luxury hotels during long-haul trips
BA’s head of mixed fleet, Ian Romanis, sent a memo slamming his workers for behaving drunkenly while down-route.
He said: ‘In doing so, these colleagues placed their own jobs at risk, jeopardised the relationship with some of our hotel partners and potentially tarnished the reputation of British Airways cabin crew. Additionally, these examples impacted our ability to deliver the service our customers expect on the return flights to London.’
It is believed that a rule which gives staff discount prices on alcohol not used by customers is one of the key factors in their boozy sessions.
A pilot told the Sunday Times: ‘It’s more Towie than the old British Airways way.’
Another source added: They are packing a lot in during their 24 hours down there. Sleep, drinking, safaris. And then they are getting on the plane, absolutely knackered.
The revelations come just days after a drunken off-duty BA cabin crew manager was spared jail for twice groping a snoozing male business-class passenger between the legs on a long-haul flight to Bangkok.
Paul Speak, 47, touched the man at least three times before fainting on board the BA plane when the complaint was reported during the flight.
Speak, from Slough, Berkshire, noticed the man and ‘clocked’ him on the long-haul flight on October 12 last year.
A BA spokesman said: ‘We are in regular contact with all our crew hotels, and have not received any complaints about behaviour for any of these destinations recently. We take the very rare reports of inappropriate behaviour extremely seriously and always investigate.’