British Airways has a new social media policy for employees, which is getting some mixed reactions…
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British Airways restricts social media for staff
As of February 2023, British Airways has introduced new social media guidelines for employees. With this, employees are no longer allowed to post photos of them being “professionally engaged” in their jobs. In other words, pilots and flight attendants are no longer allowed to post photos from onboard aircraft while in uniform.
It’s not entirely clear if this policy change was motivated by one specific incident, or what exactly the reason for this new rule is.
As you’d expect for a company of British Airways’ size, employees took all kinds of different approaches toward social media. For example, Captain Dave is a British Airways Airbus A350 captain (former A380 captain), and he’s probably the most well known British Airways employee on social media, and he has a huge following on Twitter and Instagram.
That’s for good reason, as the guy is awesome. He shares his passion for flying, and is not only an amazing (unofficial) brand ambassador, but probably inspires all kinds of younger people to pursue a career as a pilot. That’s admirable.
He has shared on social media about how he will no longer be allowed to post about his flying.
Admittedly on the other end of the spectrum, you have some employees who post content that’s a little bit less… inspiring? The reality is that for a lot of younger people, social media is a really important part of their life, and is even something they might consider when deciding what kind of a job to pursue.
Let’s be honest, British Airways’ starting pay for flight attendants isn’t exactly generous, and I think one major motivation some people have for taking the job is being able to “show off” their career on social media, the planes they fly, and all the places they go.
Content among many British Airways employees mirrored other trends we saw on social media, ranging from “what I eat in 24 hours” (during a layover) or “help me get dressed for work” (down to the underwear).
My take on British Airways’ social media policy change
I think there’s nothing wrong with creating very clear guidelines about what is and isn’t acceptable to post on social media. However, essentially doing a blanket social media ban for employees onboard aircraft seems bad for morale, and isn’t something I’d expect from an airline based in the UK.
For reference, Emirates and Etihad both allow pilots and flight attendants to post pictures from onboard aircraft, and those airlines are known for having fairly strict rules. Interestingly Qatar Airways doesn’t allow that, and I recently saw an Etihad cabin crew on social media mention that she chose to work for Etihad over Qatar Airways for exactly that reason.
Personally I think a ban like this is one step too far. The company should be happy that people take pride in working for the airline and want to post photos on social media. By all means hold people accountable if they violate rules or take their content too far, but this seems extreme. British Airways is never going to be able to control its image through all channels, and this seems like a strange way to try to control that.
Sure, social media is a mixed bag, but British Airways had some really great employees posting quality stuff, in my opinion.
Bottom line
British Airways employees are no longer allowed to post on social media about them being “professionally engaged” in their jobs. In other words, pilots and flight attendants can’t post pictures of themselves on aircraft, which is the content that was most frequently shared.
Among airlines in the West, British Airways now has one of the strictest social media policies for employees. Heck, the airline has a stricter policy than you’ll find at Emirates and Etihad.
What do you make of this new social media policy at British Airways?
Good gosh is BA now owned by China?
I won't name her but amongst the many BA Crew I follow, and follow me, I can think of one straight away who selflessly swaps out taskings as much as she can so she can fly to X location and hand over boxes of clothing, school equipment, toys etc to orphaned children at a school she also helps fund and it's all done via her using her position at BA to get noticed and drum...
I won't name her but amongst the many BA Crew I follow, and follow me, I can think of one straight away who selflessly swaps out taskings as much as she can so she can fly to X location and hand over boxes of clothing, school equipment, toys etc to orphaned children at a school she also helps fund and it's all done via her using her position at BA to get noticed and drum up support/ donations.
It's her being crew and showing off her day-to-day that gets her that support so I fear this will have a negative impact on her efforts along with several others who do charity work/ outreach in their private time and between flights ( during layovers and sticking to required rest times before any one complains)
I support BAs policy and it's no different in a wide range of other industries. Whilst you're on the company dime, put your phone away and focus on what you're being paid to do.
Good policy. Images from within the company should be approved first. The concept of people "needing" to post on public media is careless and not respectful of the organization they are working for. You can always post where you are going or even your destination. I've done that for years and never once identified my company. Good for BA. It's a good idea. Posting on behalf of the company by any one other than the PR department is inappropriate.
There are 100s of pilots, primarily hot young males who act like they are supermodels. Instagram and Im sure tik tok is full of their in-cockpit, IN-FLIGHT videos (omg, fly the plane - just wow).
It's a disaster just waiting to happen. There should be zero distractions in the cockpit. Hmmm, something must have happened. (we will never know).
Now as for flight attendants (the same) 100s, 1000s of them have a whole IG /...
There are 100s of pilots, primarily hot young males who act like they are supermodels. Instagram and Im sure tik tok is full of their in-cockpit, IN-FLIGHT videos (omg, fly the plane - just wow).
It's a disaster just waiting to happen. There should be zero distractions in the cockpit. Hmmm, something must have happened. (we will never know).
Now as for flight attendants (the same) 100s, 1000s of them have a whole IG / Tiktok thing going on. Some are just plain ridiculous, and others like "Concorde Julie" on IG are excellent. She has been flying since the late 70s, and her IG account is killing it, putting all the younger FA social media bres to shame. A real credit to BA, but that's over....a real shame.
I think this may have something to do with airline security in high-risk areas. Also, where crews stay overnight is supposed to be a hush-hush secret (for security concerns) yet one BA crew member years ago created a webpage that indicated in what hotels crews stay at.
Curious if this will also extend to other IAG airlines, namely Iberia, Level and Vueling? The Spaniards LOVE to post
EVA is just the opposite. There are so many EVA photos on Instagram.
China Southern recently(few years ago) fired a Cabin Crew for using the bathroom during a on-ground delay to market a product(BRA-related) she endorses on social media with sexually implicit texts while wearing the CSN Uniform as such action potentially compromises flight safety. That cabin crew toke CSN to court, the court ruling recently agreed that China Southern have every right to do so as cabin crew, as been in aircraft is considered at work already....
China Southern recently(few years ago) fired a Cabin Crew for using the bathroom during a on-ground delay to market a product(BRA-related) she endorses on social media with sexually implicit texts while wearing the CSN Uniform as such action potentially compromises flight safety. That cabin crew toke CSN to court, the court ruling recently agreed that China Southern have every right to do so as cabin crew, as been in aircraft is considered at work already. This might have many implications for future regarding social policy of an airline, yes, been a pilot/cabin crew on an aircraft gives you much more free-time compared to a 9-5, but even your free time are compensated.
QR owns a 25% stake of IAG, who owns BA. Not surprising that BA follows QR's boneheaded crew social media policy. Who's up next? Will it be Iberia, AerLingus, Vueling or LEVEL?
It's hard for an airline employee union to argue that they are so overworked and overpaid if everyone has time to make frivolous social media posts while supposedly on the job. No "safety" work to be done, FAs? Because you keep telling us your primary job is not customer service, but safety.
Dave Walsworth is a credit to BA. Can't they see that he is an ambassador for the airline and his blogs give to free advertising. Having flown on a BA A380 with Dave as captain I remember his friendly announcements and also crew discussing with passengers how they enjoyed working with him
Shame BA dont focus on following laws, like eu261 requirements.
Captain Dave is awesome but using electronic devices on the flight deck for uses other than to do the job could have safety concerns and is not allowed by some carriers.
Other airlines have social media restrictions so what BA is asking isn't unheard of - but BA probably could have done a better job of implementing the restrictions rather than immediately cutting everyone off without notice.
My understanding is that the policy does not forbid them from posting things, but rather restricts them from filming or photographing things while engaged in assigned duties.
That means you can't actually take pictures when you are flying the plane, but you may do so when you are on break or on ground with no other duties. Similarly, you may not disclose sensitive content (either commercially sensitive or security sensitive) such as flight loads,...
My understanding is that the policy does not forbid them from posting things, but rather restricts them from filming or photographing things while engaged in assigned duties.
That means you can't actually take pictures when you are flying the plane, but you may do so when you are on break or on ground with no other duties. Similarly, you may not disclose sensitive content (either commercially sensitive or security sensitive) such as flight loads, flight plans, passenger manifests, etc.. via social media.
This is not dissimilar to the policies of pretty much any other airline or indeed, any other employer. It is just that too many BA employees have been stretching the limits of common sense a bit too far lately (eg. Tiktok videos teasing OnlyFans content in crew rest compartments, etc..) Hopefully BA will clarify things a bit better to the employees and normal service will resume shortly thereafter.
Tiktok videos teasing OnlyFans content in crew rest compartments?
"oh my gosh thats disgusting. Where?" (ASIP meme)
It makes sense that they would want to control branding messages considering the billions of dollars spent over the years building the brand and the destructive power a single silly post could inflict.
This is correct. For every Pilot Dave, there are 10 young FAs trying to be influencers that care more about their "personal brand" than about displaying their job or their company in a positive light. It's much easier to simply let the Marketing department do their job than it is to police each and every instance of some dipshit FA flexing in his overly tight uniform shirt or showing too much cleavage under her neckerchief...
This is correct. For every Pilot Dave, there are 10 young FAs trying to be influencers that care more about their "personal brand" than about displaying their job or their company in a positive light. It's much easier to simply let the Marketing department do their job than it is to police each and every instance of some dipshit FA flexing in his overly tight uniform shirt or showing too much cleavage under her neckerchief all under the guise of "Just showing a day in the life of an FA." I think BA is being smart about it.
Social media bans are usually the result of dimwitted PR and Comms people who need to push out something to justify the existence of their jobs. There is absolutely NO EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE of any risk to a company's bottom line from employees posting content on social platforms.
On the contrary, employees are ambassadors for the company. No content is better than organic content!
@DCAss
Are you serious? Really?
I'll leave it to a fellow far smarter than thou to set you straight: Absence of Evidence, does NOT mean Evidence of Absence. ~ Dr. Carl Sagan