Two British Airways flight attendants were fired on Monday after a video emerged on social media of the pair mocking Asian passengers after a flight. According to British tabloid The Sun, the video was recorded at the Trade Winds Hotel Antigua during a layover and posted to Instagram in 2022. The post was captured and reposted on TikTok last week, where it received over one million views. The British flag carrier effectively banned employees from posting workplace content on social media last year.
The video appears to show flight attendant Holly Walton saying, “Give me wine” in a horrifically exaggerated Chinese accent while doing a slant-eyes gesture. The footage was posted on the Instagram account of Lauren Bray, another BA flight attendant. It’s presumed that Bray was holding the camera and laughing at Walton’s racist impression. While not in uniform on the recording, both women made it clear that they worked for British Airways on their social media accent.
According to One Mile At A Time, British Airways was quick to take action. One attendant was immediately pulled from a layover in Cancún, Mexico and flown back to London as a passenger for questioning. The airline stated, “All forms of racism are completely unacceptable, and we take allegations of this nature very seriously. These two individuals are no longer employed by us.”
In 2023, British Airways mandated that pilots and flight attendants could no longer post photos of themselves in uniform while aboard aircraft. While passenger aviation might not be as glamorous as it used to be for customers and employees, it is still a service industry. Flight attendants are the most public faces at an airline, directly interacting with passengers during every service. If people think your cabin crew are racist assholes, then they might hesitate to buy a ticket.