Sign in / up

back to article Virgin sacks the Facebook 13, BA customers stink

Virgin Atlantic has sacked the thirteen staff who labelled customers "chavs" and criticised the maintenance record of the airline's fleet of Boeing 747s which fly from Gatwick. The staff criticised the cleanliness of Virgin's fleet and of its passengers. All 13 have now been sacked for their comments. It seems staff at …

COMMENTS

House rules Send corrections
This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Andy Livingstone

    Virgin Customer Standards

    Maybe the Customer Care message could filter through to other parts of the Group.

    Virgin Media might be the obvious place to start.

    Even senior management cannot be a**sed to deal with complaints.

    0 0
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Sacked...

    for being honest ... ah, blame it on the recession.

    0 0
  3. dervheid

    Harsh...

    but fair.

    That's what happens when you bite the hand that feeds you.

    The moral of the story;

    Think it, just don't publish it!

    0 0
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Hmmm

    1- how else are you supposed to hold your boarding pass, with carry on luggage in one hand and duty frees in the other?

    2-BA used to do all Virgin's aeroplane servicing.... Strange, given the public relationship betweent he two. Maybe this is just another salvo int he war of words over the atlantic routes... And any other competition between them. Or are they talking about the turn-around cleaning and re-stocking?

    0 0
  5. Danny
    Paris Hilton

    The Reality?

    So staff have genuine misgivings? Problem. Not really - they're concerned about the planes safety record - is that a cause to be sacked, not at all.

    They're concerned about the cleanliness of planes - cause to be sacked,nope.

    They make complaints about the customer, cause to be sacked? Nope - but doing so in a public place in full public view damages the airlines reputation. It's not a smart thing to do. Cause to be sacked - yes.

    I don't feel as if the Virgin brand has done itself any favours by not making it clear EXACTLY what the staff were sacked for.

    Paris because she's probably a demon in the sack.

    0 0
  6. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Just stay off Facebook

    Or any of the other stupid places where you leave yourself open to corporate punishment. Posting stuff against your company with your name/picture attached is like looking for trouble under a skunk's tail.

    Anon 'cos I want to keep my job

    0 0
  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Virgin or The Reg

    "I don't feel as if the Virgin brand has done itself any favours by not making it clear EXACTLY what the staff were sacked for."

    Maybe they did make it clear and the Reg didn't pass it on.

    0 0
  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    RE: Hmmm

    BA hasn't done the servicing for VA's planes for years. They have it done on the continent by engineering organisations well-known for their high standards.

    0 0
  9. John Smith

    stevematt

    HA Ha Anonymous Coward

    Some one such as yourself who posts non stop can not possibly have the time for a job ?

    0 0
  10. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    No Sympathy

    Don't really have much sympathy, if you post stuff on Facebook, MySpace, et al slagging off your employer and its customers you certainly won't be in line for a raise. If the staff had genuine concerns about maintenance and aircraft safety they should have made a complaint to the CAA. The CAA even has a anonymous tipoff system for whistleblowers worried about management vindictiveness.

    Come on, which would have been more productive ultimately, slagging off the company on Facebook OR tipping off the government agency charged with enforcing aviation safety and that has the power to ground airlines for not following maintenance procedures??

    0 0
  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    re:re:HMMMM

    BA sold off a large chunk of it's engine servicing to GE (around about the time GE wanted to sell them their new engines) a long time ago. So while Virgin may (or may not for all I know) have engines serviced at an ex-BA plant or at the same place as BA it's not done by BA.

    In fact I seem to recall BA blaming one of their bad results on the high outside servicing costs a few years ago.

    0 0
  12. Sam
    Pirate

    Really?!

    Now we've all been in a horrible job, such as retail or customer service. It is a tough time and sometimes you have just a bit too much of socialising with people you don't know. Sometimes it gets the better of you, and obviously your going to have friends where you work. Now, they are all friends via the BA, so they are likely to name the group after the place they work, not expecting anybody else to get into their group. When you get home from work you need to ventilate, and thats clearly what they have done. Now admitedely they haven't done the smartest act in the world, but everyone does it! How many people would have heard about this story before it was publicised? And now the whole country knows about it. This is just one of the many times that the media should stay quiet and let the company and employer sort it out between themselves.

    0 0
  13. Alan Fisher

    hahahahah

    oh dear me *wipes tear away* the stupidity of some people never ceases to amaze me, I think the Great Austrian (the one with the proper moustache and electrified hair, not the loony) put it best;

    "there are two things which may be considered to be infinate; the universe and human stupidity and even I'm not certain about the former"

    if you post that kind of material on a public forum, expect to be burned, it's that simple.....maybe it'll do us some favours as, in my opinion, regular and fervent facebookers (ie those who take it waaay to seriously) deserve to be culled from the human herd...at least now there're less chavs working for Virgin now

    0 0
  14. Peter Mc Aulay
    Flame

    If you hate customers, maybe a job in the service industry is not for you

    Annoying people? In an airport? Well I never!

    0 0
This topic is closed for new posts.