£30k payout | British Airways dismissal over 'mile-high club' comments ruled unfair after investigation failings

A British Airways cabin crew member dismissed following allegations that he made ‘mile-high club’ comments, touched a colleague’s leg and told her sexual stories, has been awarded nearly £30,000 after a tribunal found flaws in the airline’s investigation.

Mr C Mateo received the award of £29,195.69 for unfair and wrongful dismissal. However, the tribunal accepted that the airline genuinely believed the allegations on reasonable grounds, and so refused to order that his employment be reinstated.

Mateo worked as cabin crew based at Heathrow from September 2018 until his dismissal without notice in July 2024.

The allegations concerned a conversation with a female colleague while she was taking a rest break behind a privacy curtain. Mateo was travelling on the flight but was not operating as crew.