Ryanair crew members seen 'sleeping' on airport floor in viral photo have been fired

The Ryanair cabin crew who were photographed lying on the floor of a Spanish airport last month have been fired, union officials claim.

The image was staged by six crew members in protest of bad treatment by the airline, after they were stranded at Malaga Airport due to bad weather.

The Sun reported that the fired staff were part of a group of eight pilots and 16 cabin crew based in Portugal. They claimed they were forced to spend several hours in an airport office after landing after midnight, due to diversions caused by Hurricane Leslie.

Luciana Passo, head of Portuguese cabin crew union SNPVAC told the Sun the union's legal team would respond to the airline's "awful" decision.

"Ryanair thinks it was harmed by the publication of that photograph when it was no more than a show of the crew members' justified feeling of indignation," he said.

In a statement to Sun Online Travel, Ryanair confirmed the staff members had been dismissed.

"All six cabin crew members in Porto were dismissed on Monday, 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," the low-cost Irish airline said.

This is a Ryanair 737 crew based in Portugal, stranded in Malaga, Spain a couple of nights ago due to storms. They are sleeping on the floor of the Ryanair crew room. RYR is earning €1.25 billion this year but will not put stranded crews in a hotel for the night. @peterbellew ? pic.twitter.com/lILWZVqqGj

— Jim Atkinson (@Jimbaba) October 14, 2018

"(This) was behaviour which damaged their employer's reputation and caused an irreparable breach of trust with these six persons."

When the photo was released last month, union representatives claimed the 24 crew members had been forced to spend more than seven hours in the office with only seven chairs, before being taken to a VIP area to sleep on sofas.

Ryanair then released CCTV footage showing the crew lying down on the floor to pose for the photo.

However, the video backfired and members of the public attacked the airline on social media.

One commenter wrote on Twitter: "Everyone already KNEW it was a protest picture you knuckleheads! The fact remains: you stranded FOUR CREWS in an airport terminal for the night and made no discernible attempt to find them proper lodging or even food and water!"

Everyone already KNEW it was a protest picture you knuckleheads! The fact remains: you stranded FOUR CREWS in an airport terminal for the night and made no discernible attempt to find them proper lodging or even food and water!

— Jim Atkinson (@Jimbaba) October 17, 2018

And then back to their ‘comfortable’ chairs (how many?) for their well deserved sleep? What is the message @Ryanair? Crew room good accommodation for layover? Started disciplinary procedures already no doubt? Spy cams in every crew room?

— Evert van Zwol (@68evz) October 17, 2018

The airline admitted the crew had spent "a short time" in the room due to a shortage of hotel rooms on the night, but denied anyone had slept on the floor.

But union delegate Fernando Rikote said the crews flew back to Porto the next morning "without proper rest, without sleeping at all" – and were denied food on the aircraft.