Airline passenger news and views

Advertising Standard Authority (ASA) might as well have a whole department dedicated to Ryanair.

Only last May it banned an ad by the Irish budget carrier promoting spring flights as it considered it misleading - their point was, basically, that you can't use the picture of a model in a bikini to advertise holidays in Oslo when temperatures are under 10C.

Another notorious clash with ASA happened when Ryanair made an ad featuring a Britney Spears-style schoolgirl. Also in France they have had problems and were forced to pay out €60,000 in damages for using a picture of Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni.

Now the scandal comes with Ryanair's 2012 cabin crew charity calendar. Particularly with a newspaper ad featuring a lingerie-clad flight attendant called Ornella, who appears as the model for the month of February, with the strapline "red hot fares & crew".

ASA is to launch an investigation after receiving 10 complaints from members of the public who have said that the ads are "sexist and objectify women, particularly female cabin crew". The complainants allege that the ads are "offensive and unsuitable for display in a national newspaper".

Ryanair announces in its website that 99.7% of its passengers support the 2012 cabin crew charity calendar, and that they "will continue to defend the right of its sexy cabin crew to strip down for charity, if they wish to."

According to the airline, the initiative has raised €500,000 for charity, and almost 50,000 calendars have been sold since 2008.

"What is it about a group of good-looking girls selflessly doing their best to raise money for charity that causes a stir amongst tiny groups of protestors? Our survey of over 100,000 passengers shows overwhelming support with over 99.7% of passengers supporting the Ryanair Cabin Crew Charity Calendar initiative which continues to raise money for the worthy charity," said Ryanair's Stephen McNamara.

"With such overwhelming support for our calendars and crew, Ryanair will continue to defend the right of people to strip down for charity, if they want to," he added.

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