{"id":508265,"date":"2026-06-19T17:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T17:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/508265\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T17:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T17:30:12","slug":"aer-lingus-flight-attendant-involved-in-passenger-bathroom-access-row-loses-dismissal-claim-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/508265\/","title":{"rendered":"Aer Lingus flight attendant involved in passenger bathroom access row loses dismissal claim \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A tribunal has upheld the sacking of a senior Aer Lingus<\/a> flight attendant said by his colleagues to have refused to let a passenger use the on-board bathroom until he was reduced to tears. <\/p>\n

The airline decided the actions of Alan O\u2019Neill, a senior cabin crew member, amounted to gross misconduct and terminated him with notice after 12 years\u2019 service with an otherwise clean disciplinary record, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC)<\/a> has been told. <\/p>\n

It rejected O\u2019Neill\u2019s complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 against the airline in a decision just published. <\/p>\n

A stand-off developed between O\u2019Neill and a passenger after the senior flight attendant told him he could not use the bathroom while the plane was being refuelled on the tarmac in Marseilles on 9 April, 2024 for a flight to Dublin, the tribunal heard earlier this year. <\/p>\n

Another flight attendant said passengers had been left to wait for the inbound jet in a part of the terminal with \u201capparently no bathrooms\u201d available.<\/p>\n

When O\u2019Neill refused the passenger use of the toilet on safety grounds, the flight attendant, Clair Durkan, said she heard the passenger saying \u201cunder his breath\u201d the words \u201coh for f**k\u2019s sake\u201d. She said he didn\u2019t say it \u201cdirectly\u201d to O\u2019Neill.<\/p>\n

After take-off, when the \u201cfasten seat belt\u201d sign was still on, O\u2019Neill had another interaction with the passenger when he got up and tried to go to the forward bathroom, the tribunal heard.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill was accused of refusing to let the passenger, a man in his thirties, to use the bathroom on the delayed flight for up to 45 minutes after take-off. <\/p>\n

The length of time the customer had to wait is strongly disputed by O\u2019Neill\u2019s legal team, who say he was following standard operating procedures while the pilots had the \u201cfasten seat belt\u201d lit. <\/p>\n

He told his bosses he was under strain in his personal life and that the man \u201ctriggered\u201d him by swearing when he was first refused, the WRC was told earlier this year. <\/p>\n

The passenger was also subject to a temporary flight ban after O\u2019Neill wrote him up under the airline\u2019s \u201cdisruptive passenger\u201d procedure and read him a formal warning \u2013 a ban which was later \u201crescinded\u201d, the airline\u2019s legal team said. <\/p>\n

\"\"Will a Middle East peace deal make any difference to inflation? <\/p>\n

That was after a different passenger wrote a complaint to the airline on 29 April 2024 about what happened during the flight and an investigation began, the tribunal heard.<\/p>\n

The complaint writer reported that they boarded directly after the passenger and heard him ask O\u2019Neill: \u201cAny chance of using the toilet?\u201d<\/p>\n

The senior flight attendant\u2019s reply, telling the customer no on safety grounds, was in an \u201cangry, extremely unprofessional, hostile and snarly tone\u201d, the complaint writer added. <\/p>\n

The customer replied: \u201cOh for feck\u2019s sake, we have been held here for an hour delay on the ground and badly need to use the toilet,\u201d the complaint added. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill then \u201cliterally seemed to snap, and devoured the passenger in front of all passengers\u201d, the complaint continued. <\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you swear at me; do not swear at me, or I will have you removed from this aircraft,\u201d O\u2019Neill was quoted as saying. <\/p>\n

The passenger \u201ctried to respond politely\u201d, but O\u2019Neill \u201cseemed to view the passenger as dirt and treated him that way\u201d, the writer added. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a clear case of someone abusing their power,\u201d the customer added. \u201cHe used threatening body language and words against the passenger … [he] escalated the situation at every moment, and fellow passengers were shocked,\u201d the complaining passenger wrote. <\/p>\n

It was put to company witnesses by counsel for the complainant, Jason Murray, that O\u2019Neill\u2019s position was that the passenger told him: \u201cF**k you, I need to use the toilet.\u201d <\/p>\n

A statement later taken from O\u2019Neill in a company probe stated that the passenger \u201ctried to push past me on boarding to use the toilet during fuelling\u201d and that he told the man he could use the bathroom when fuelling was finished. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe started swearing. I informed him the bathroom was not available while fuelling … He continued swearing. I informed him if he continued we would offload him,\u201d the statement said. <\/p>\n

He told his bosses he was \u201cfearful\u201d and felt \u201ctriggered\u201d by the customer, the manager assigned to conduct a disciplinary process, Mary McHugh, told the tribunal. <\/p>\n

Another flight attendant, Clair Durkan, said in evidence that when the passenger later refused to hand over his boarding pass when O\u2019Neill was preparing to issue the formal warning, her senior colleague said: \u201cHe won\u2019t be allowed to go to the toilet unless he gives the boarding pass,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Durkan added that O\u2019Neill went to the passenger and told him: \u201cYou can\u2019t go to the toilet. I\u2019ll tell you whenever you can go to the toilet.\u201d<\/p>\n

McHugh said: \u201cOkay, [the passenger] didn\u2019t provide his boarding pass; but apart form that, he became upset, and was just complying and embarrassed.\u201d <\/p>\n

The second most senior flight attendant aboard, Joan O\u2019Gorman, told the tribunal she saw the passenger \u201ccrying\u201d coming down the aisle toward the aft lavatories. <\/p>\n

She said she told the man: \u201cOh my god, you\u2019re crying. I\u2019m so sorry.\u201d The passenger was unable to answer, she added. <\/p>\n

Counsel for the respondent, Tom Mallon, appearing instructed by Arthur Cox, asked: \u201cIn your 10 years of flying have you ever observed \u2013 [this was] a man in his 30s, a youngish man, but a mature male … have you observed men of that age crying because of an interaction with cabin crew?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. No,\u201d Ms O\u2019Gorman said. <\/p>\n

Murray, appearing instructed by Daniel Spring & Co on behalf of F\u00f3rsa, argued that the evidence of company witnesses was enough to conclude the disciplinary process was procedurally defective to the extent it made the dismissal unfair. <\/p>\n

He confirmed at a hearing last month that his side would call no witnesses at all. <\/p>\n

In a decision just published, adjudication officer Michael Macnamee concluded that the process was \u201cfair and reasonable\u201d and that \u201cany imperfections or flaws\u201d Murray had been able to point to were \u201cnot sufficiently serious as to undermine the overall fairness of the outcome\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cDismissal was warranted and was a reasonable and proportionate response,\u201d Macnamee wrote, rejecting the complaint. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Gorman also told the tribunal that, after landing at Dublin Airport, she and Mr O\u2019Neill again encountered the passenger on their way to the car park. The passenger was on a video call speaking in Portuguese or Spanish, she said.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill remarked to her: \u201cDid you hear what that passenger said to me? He called me a \u201cc\u201d,\u2019\u201d Ms O\u2019Gorman said.<\/p>\n

Shortly after, from across the Terminal 2 road, O\u2019Neill shouted at the passenger: \u201cYou think you\u2019re mister big man now, do you big fella?\u201d O\u2019Gorman said.<\/p>\n

The passenger \u201cshouted over something back,\u201d which she could not make out, the witness said.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill \u201cgot his bag, threw it on the ground\u201d and then \u201cmarched off\u201d toward the passenger. I said \u201cAlan, what are you doing, you\u2019re in uniform, you\u2019re going to get in big trouble,\u201d she said. She decided to leave the area after that, she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A tribunal has upheld the sacking of a senior Aer Lingus flight attendant said by his colleagues to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[601,42,43,40,38,41,39,6465],"class_list":["post-508265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-aer-lingus","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-workplace-relations-commission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}