There are reports in the UK’s popular tabloid newspaper, The Daily Mail that a senior cabin crew member at British Airways has been allegedly raped by a fellow crew member while on a layover in Singapore. The alleged rapist is said to have been arrested by local police and is currently being held in custody.
The incident apparently took place earlier this week, according to reports from anonymous sources who have spoken to the newspaper. Sources have said the senior crew member was attacked after a drunken party held at the hotel used by British Airways for its flight attendants.
The exact details haven’t been released by the airline but a spokesperson for British Airways confirmed an incident is under investigation. In a written statement, the airline said it was “co-operating with the police investigation and are offering our full support to our cabin crew.”
“As it is a live investigation we won’t be commenting further.”
The incident took place after the 12-hour flight from London Heathrow to Singapore. It’s believed the crew had been working on flight BA15 which is operated by the airline’s so-called ‘Mixed Fleet’ cabin crew. They had been due to fly on to Sydney, Australia but British Airways is said to have flown out a replacement crew.
Mixed Fleet cabin crew are newer flight attendants that have been hired since 2010 on a lower-paying contract than more experienced Britsh Airways crew. The ‘Mixed Fleet’ project has been dogged with controversy – with staff going on strike last year to complain about “poverty pay” and managers warning crew about the consequences of their drunken antics late last year.
In February, we reported rumours that a luxury hotel in Singapore had refused to renew a lucrative contract for British Airways cabin crew to stay at the property because of wild parties and drunken antics. Instead, British Airways had been forced to find a new hotel outside of the city in the hope that the trouble would calm down.
And Singapore isn’t the only city that British Airways has scrambled to find alternative accommodation for their flight attendants after hotels lost their appetite for hosting them.
Sources have told us that many cabin crew at the airline feel like a minority of flight attendants are ruining it for the majority. They’re calling on tougher sanctions and a zero-tolerance approach to rid British Airways of cabin crew who might be partying just a little bit too hard.
