Be careful what you post in your blog or networking sites. It could cost you your job. That’s what happened to 13 Virgin Atlantic Flight Attendants when they posted inappropriate comments about the airline and its passengers on Facebook.
The Independent reported that flight attendants called the passengers “chavs” (“redneck” in US terms), the planes were full of cockroaches, and the jet engines were replaced four times in one year.
Virgin Atlantic confirmed that the 13 flight attendants were dismissed for inappropriate behavior, including “insulting the very passengers who pay their salaries” and that they have “brought the company into disrepute.”
The airline’s five 747s based at London Gatwick are among the newest 747s in the air worldwide.
A spokesman for Virgin Atlantic said that ‘”there is no justification for [Facebook] to be used as a sounding board for staff of any company…We have numerous internal channels for our staff to feed back legitimate and appropriate issues relating to the company.”‘ The Facebook group has since been removed.
The Virgin Atlantic flight attendants are not the first to lose their jobs over inappropriate postings. Ellen Simonetti, who worked for Delta as a flight attendant was fired in 2004 for posting provocative photos of herself in a Delta uniform in her blog.
