Cathay campaigns against flight attendants' unwise internet posts

Cathay Pacific has posted a video on YouTube featuring real-life images of flight attendants behaving badly in a campaign to get cabin crew not to embarrass themselves and the airline with their Facebook postings.

The video includes a picture of a male flight attendant appearing to smoke a cigarette in the galley of a plane, which went up on Facebook and led to his firing, and another of a woman flight attendant putting her shoeless feet on to a seat opposite her on an airport bus.

The animated video is part of an internal social-media education campaign to get across the message to flight attendants that posting inappropriate images or comments about work online can damage the reputation of themselves and the company.

It follows a series of incidents where injudicious postings on Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media have led to stories appearing in newspapers and in some cases disciplinary action against the employees involved.

The flight attendant appearing to smoke was actually using dry ice and a fake cigarette, according to his union, but he lost his job after the image was circulated among crew members and ended up in a Chinese-language newspaper.

Cathay's two-minute video, posted to a non-public YouTube forum, advises flight attendants to "respect our brand" and tells them not to "present our logo and uniforms in a way that is open to ridicule".

Its commentary says: "If in doubt, leave it out … Make sure what you are saying doesn't harm the company's reputation or your reputation as CX cabin crew. If you wouldn't say it on board, don't say it online."