British Airways bans covert filming with Meta AI smart glasses

British Airways has banned passengers from using Meta AI smart glasses to covertly film staff or fellow seatmates. The airline updated its General Conditions of Carriage to forbid this activity at the airport or on board its aircraft.

Building on existing restrictions

The new rule extends earlier bans on photographing, videoing, or live-streaming cabin crew and customer-facing workers without consent. British Airways had introduced those rules just months prior. The updated conditions now explicitly cover smart glasses and also add a prohibition on live-streaming people without permission.

The ban was added via amendments to Section 7A.10 and Section 11A of the conditions. Section 7A.10 states British Airways can refuse to carry a passenger who has harassed or behaved inappropriately toward staff, including filming them without consent. Section 11A allows the airline to remove passengers from an aircraft, refuse future carriage, and report them to police for the same offence.

How the ban is enforced and what it means for passengers

Passengers are still permitted to wear Meta AI glasses on British Airways flights. Doing so may trigger increased scrutiny from staff concerned about covert filming. Meta AI glasses have an LED light to indicate when recording is active. Some reports say certain wearers deliberately cover this light to hide recording activity.

Cabin crew and other British Airways customer-facing workers are already banned from using smart glasses themselves.

Context: industry-wide concerns and legal backdrop

British Airways is not alone in restricting passenger filming of crew. Many other airlines introduced similar rules several years ago. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines cabin crew have made public address announcements at the start of flights for years reminding customers not to photograph or video crew without permission.

Privacy laws in Germany, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates effectively ban passengers from photographing or videoing crew members. Airlines based in these countries, such as Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, and Emirates, can ban passengers from their flights for violating these norms, though the national laws are not technically enforceable outside their home states.

The UK has a relatively relaxed approach to privacy in public spaces. Aircraft, however, are not considered public places because passengers must pay and possess a ticket to board. This allows British Airways to set its own rules via its General Conditions of Carriage.

Recent incident highlighting the issue

In June, ground staff at Spanish low-cost airline Volotea refused to engage with a travel vlogger wearing Meta AI glasses. The vlogger was trying to record a customer service exchange about a boarding pass issue at Oviedo airport. Staff disengaged and ignored the passenger.

The vlogger insisted she had a right to record the conversation, while staff insisted they had a right not to be filmed. When the passenger complained to Volotea, the airline responded with a warning that her conduct potentially breached Spanish privacy laws. It did not apologize for her treatment.

Mateusz Maszczynski said he "honed his skills as an international flight attendant at the most prominent airline in the Middle East and has been flying ever since."

Passengers are still permitted to wear Meta AI glasses on British Airways flights, but doing so could lead to increased scrutiny from staff who fear covert filming.