Virgin Atlantic Flying Club - Fly Virgin, Get Papparazzi

According to the Guardian, a Virgin employee has quit amid claims that she sold details of celebrity passengers (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/apr/05/virgin-atlantic-celebrity-flight-details).

From the article:


A senior employee at Virgin Atlantic has resigned after allegations that she passed private flight details of celebrities, including Ashley Cole and Sienna Miller, to a global paparazzi agency.

Emails seen by the Guardian indicate that a Virgin Atlantic supervisor of Upper Class customers passed detailed flight information for at least eight celebrities to the London-based firm Big Pictures.

The Virgin Atlantic employee, who resigned on Thursday after the Guardian raised the claims, appears to have been told in an email from Big Pictures that the agency was "trying to sort you out some money with accounts".

...


Doesn't give you great confidence in your personal information with the airline...

Doesn't give you great confidence in your personal information with the airline...


Why the airline? There are bad apples everywhere, including one probably at your bank, does it give you less confidence with your banKk?

Doesn't give you great confidence in your personal information with the airline...

It looks like it was a single rogue member of staff who leaked this information in 2010 and is not general VS policy. I bet there have been similar incidences at other airlines too but maybe they have been better at hiding them from the press??

Did you know that most personal information about flights etc is actually revealed by individuals themselves?

On the VS FB page I have even seen people give out their phone numbers, email addresses and booking references ! Ditto on here too.

How many times have you watched famous 'actress' Miss A on a chat show say 'oh yes I'm flying to LA next Thursday on B airline' yet is then surprised to have been met by a photographer or two?

Doesn't give you great confidence in your personal information with the airline...

I have to be honest here. When I first heard about this, I thought it was a Virgin story. They have made up the story to show that they have many celebs flying with them.

If you are not doing anything wrong, no need to worry.

Why the airline? There are bad apples everywhere, including one probably at your bank, does it give you less confidence with your banKk?

True. And such tip offs from organisations (public & private sector) have been the life blood of tabloid stories for years and this appears to be a minor peccadillo compared to what has gone on elsewhere and has been heard before the Leveson enquiry.

That said, the embarrassment for Virgin may be greater depending on just how senior is the "senior employee" that The Guardian claims is the source of the leaks (and further reports suggest the leaks are in the dozens).

Apparently he/she gave details of flight numbers, "such as VS7 for Heathrow to JFK flights". :rolleyes:

Tbh although it was an employee any fellow traveller could also have done it. For example 3 British celebs were in lounge on Friday. You knew by when they left what flight they were on.

Tbh although it was an employee any fellow traveller could also have done it. For example 3 British celebs were in lounge on Friday. You knew by when they left what flight they were on.

And it has been known for the celebs and their publicists to inform certain newspapers of their travel plans with the expectation that a photographer would magically appear

And it has been known for the celebs and their publicists to inform certain newspapers of their travel plans with the expectation that a photographer would magically appear

Strange how that happens isn't it! There's a lengthy debate to be had about celeb privacy versus attention seeking and where the line is drawn. True celebs of course never court publicity for publicity sake, that only applies to fake Z-listers, and frankly if their details are leaked I don't much care.

Strange how that happens isn't it! There's a lengthy debate to be had about celeb privacy versus attention seeking and where the line is drawn. True celebs of course never court publicity for publicity sake, that only applies to fake Z-listers, and frankly if their details are leaked I don't much care.

And some of the names in the list of 'top' celebrities were, to me, distinctly Z-list rather than A-list.

I mean how can a footballers wife be a 'top' celeb simply because of who she married. Ditto the wife of a fading pop star.

I am not saying that selling the names/traval plans is right but by overstating the importance of some of the people involved actually devalues the story.

Resurfaced in the news...

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/virgin-atlantic-admits-leaking-stars-flight-details-to-paparazzi-7827938.html

Resurfaced in the news...

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/virgin-atlantic-admits-leaking-stars-flight-details-to-paparazzi-7827938.html

Good to see VS being proactive about calling in the ICO and getting to the bottom of this.

Good to see VS being proactive about calling in the ICO and getting to the bottom of this.

I'd imagine they want to keep some of those celeb customers! ;)