British Airways has just updated its general conditions of carriage, and it contains an important amendment that passengers need to be aware of: Taking photos, videos, or live-streaming another customer or a member of the crew without their consent could result in your ticket being canceled and being banned from future travel.
Privacy rules do, of course, vary massively from one country to the next, and the United Kingdom generally has fairly relaxed rules that allow people to take photos and videos of other people without their consent in a public place.
The key phrase here is ‘public place.’ Given that passengers have to pay and obtain a ticket to get on board a British Airways airplane, it isn’t considered a public place like a normal street, park, or even the airport would be.
As a result, British Airways is allowed to set its own rules, which are contained within a legal document known as its General Conditions of Carriage – essentially a rule book which outlines what passengers can and can’t do, and what consequences they face if they break the rules.
Section 11.a (Unacceptable Behavior) of the General Conditions of Carriage has just been updated to read: “If, while you are on board the aircraft, we reasonably believe that you have filmed, live-streamed or photographed our crew or other colleagues without their consent, we may take any measures we think reasonable to prevent you continuing your behaviour.”
British Airways says anyone caught breaking this rule could be asked to leave the aircraft when the plane lands, have any remaining sectors of a ticket canceled, and be reported to the local authorities.
What prompted this change remains unclear, as mobile phones with high-quality cameras, as well as social media, have been around for a long time.
The change may well be linked to BA’s rollout of high-speed Starlink in-flight Wi-Fi, which could potentially allow passengers to livestream onboard disputes and incidents in real-time.
It could also just be a case of British Airways adopting industry best practice, which has seen a growing number of international carriers explicitly ban passengers from taking photos of other customers and crew without their permission.
Just like other airlines, such as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, a public address announcement will be made at the start of flights reminding customers that they must not photograph or video the crew without their permission.
Along with a ban on passengers using digital cameras and mobile phones to capture crew, the updated rules also cover the likes of Meta AI glasses and GoPro-style cameras that are being increasingly worn.
Some passengers may naturally wonder whether this is an attempt to cover up bad customer service, although it’s my understanding that this change has very much been driven by an uptick across the industry of passengers secretly recording cabin crew.
