WATCH: Ryanair video exposes fake photo of cabin crew ‘sleeping on airport floor’ in Spain

LOW-COST Irish airline Ryanair has released video footage that they say proves that a photo published on social media that allegedly showed staff sleeping on an airport floor in Spain was staged.
The photo that went viral claimed to show Portuguese Ryanair staff lying on the floor of the Malaga-Costa del Sol airport as planes were diverted to the airort after storms swept through Portugal.
But now the budget airline has released CCTV footage (see below) that clearly shows the staff getting into position and posing for the snap that went viral earlier in the week with the caption: “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.”
The SNPVAC union representing Portuguese airline crews had claimed Ryanair’s handling of the situation failed to adhere to ‘minimum rest facilities’: “They had no other choice, as the photo illustrates, than to attempt to rest on the room’s floor,” they told the British media.
Ryanair immediately disputed the accusation that it forced staff members to sleep on the floor and said at the time: “This picture is clearly staged and no crew “slept on the floor”.
And the newly-released video backs up that statement.
At the time the airline said: “Due to storms in Porto (13 Oct) 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).”
Ryanair COO Peter Bellew had said: “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.”

‘STAGED’: Ryanair insist no staff slept on floor of airport in Spain as flights diverted due to storms

Ryanair exposes fake photo of cabin crew sleeping in crew room. Watch video here: pic.twitter.com/tzTn6EHsKH

— Ryanair (@Ryanair) October 17, 2018

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