Punishments for not hitting sales targets

RYANAIR cabin crew face being reprimanded aggressively if they do not sell enough to passengers while in the air.

They are threatened with being moved from their home base to elsewhere in Europe, having their shifts changed at the last minute and having their sales bonuses taken away.

Crew earn 10 per cent of all sales on board before taxes.

Targets can be up to an average spend of £4 per passenger. Some have been asked to sell at least a perfume, a meal deal item, a fresh food item and eight scratch cards per day.

Last month, crew received threats in letters from Crewlink and Workforce International, which hire for Ryanair. Stewards were accused of ‘poor performance’ for missing targets.

The letters added: ‘This is not acceptable and it is clear you are simply not doing your job onboard.’

One stewardess was told by the European bases manager that her sales were ‘very concerning’. Her letter said: ‘I have given serious consideration to moving you out of base.’ Others were told they had ‘drastically underperformed’ and that Ryanair ‘has no obligation to provide roster in these circumstances.’

One crew member said: ‘The abuse going on relating to sales is too much … they said we would have to change base or move as a punishment.’

Ryanair made £1.6billion in ‘ancillary revenue’ last year. A guide to working at Crewlink and Workforce told crew to ‘treat the airline’s money like it’s your own’. The Mail’s undercover reporter was told: ‘If you don’t sell, don’t complain if you don’t have a sales bonus.’

Sarah Foley was 18 when her Ryanair contract was ended.

Her father John Foley, who runs the website Ryanair Don’t Care, said the firm’s treatment of cabin crew was ‘disrespectful and humiliating’, with ‘inferior pay, benefits, and conditions’ compared with other airlines.

He added: ‘It is unacceptable to force them to work unpaid hours considering the company’s millions in profits.’

A Ryanair spokesman said staff were given training to help improve their sales, but ‘if they consistently and repeatedly underperform, their contracts will be terminated’.