Viral Photo Of Airline Crew Sleeping On Airport Floor ‘Staged,’ Ryanair Says

Update: 4:30 a.m. EDT -- After a photo of Ryanair employees sleeping on the floor of Malaga Airport in Spain went viral on social media, the airline sent International Business Times surveillance footage of the scene from Oct. 13, as evidence backing their claim the picture was staged.

“The publication of this video reveals the facts and exposes the SNPVAC union fake news/false claims. This video proves that the original picture was staged and no crew ‘slept on the floor’. All Ryanair offices and crew rooms are equipped for security reasons with CCTV cameras and notifications of same as required by GDPR [General Data Protection Regulation],” Ryanair told IBT in a statement.

Click here to watch the video.

Original story

A photo showing cabin crew employees of Ryanair sleeping on the floor, which recently went viral, has prompted outrage on social media. However, the airline defended itself against the backlash, insisting the picture was staged and not real.

One of the people who shared the photo on social media was ex-Ryanair pilot Jim Atkinson.

The much-talked-about photo allegedly taken on Oct. 13, after four Portugal-bound Ryanair flights were diverted due to the tropical thunderstorm Leslie, was originally shared by the Facebook page of “Ryanair Must Change.” The picture showed six members of the airline’s staff curled up on a carpet on the floor of Malaga Airport, Spain, next to printers and other office supplies.

While some of them used their blazers as pillows under their head, others were seen shielding their eyes with their arms as they slept.

“Upon arrival to Malaga airport, the 24 crew [8 pilots and 16 cabin crew] were placed in a room, without the minimum rest facilities, where the Crew that are based on that airport perform their briefings and where Ryanair has their Malaga offices. The 24 crew members were there since 01h30 until 06:00 local time [7:30 p.m. to 12 a.m. EDT] without access to food, drinks and even a place to sit down, as there were only 8 seats available for the 24 crew,” Ryanair Must Change said in a separate Facebook post.

Ryanair said in a statement to the Irish Mirror: “This picture is clearly staged and no crew 'slept on the floor'."

“Due to storms in Porto [on Oct. 13] 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],” the statement said.

Furthermore, the airline’s Chief Operations Officer Peter Bellew added the company apologized to the crew member for being unable to organize hotels for them to stay in.

“Unfortunately all hotels were completely booked out in Malaga. The storm created huge damage in Portugal. Later after this the crew moved to VIP lounge. Apologies to the crew we could not find accommodation,” he said, Mirror Online reported.

SNPVAC union, which represents Portuguese airline crews, pushed back against Ryanair’s claims of the photo being staged, saying the staff had “no other choice… than to attempt to rest on the room’s floor.”

It added that while the airline crew was eventually allowed to access the VIP lounge of the airport and stay there for another four hours, they did not receive any refreshments then too.

Atkinson also shared the screenshot of a chat he had with an anonymous Ryanair airport staff member, who alleged there were some expensive hotels available and the company simply chose not to bear the cost.

“Off season? No hotels?!?! There are thousands of hotels along the gold cost [sic]. All hotels sold out that probably cost less than 35 euro a night and gave a discount for taking the no breakfast tariff!” the staff member wrote.