Stunning Virgin air hostess forced to quit high-flying job after telling her partner that singer Rita Ora was ‘flawless’ and ‘a beautiful oil painting’ in flirty Facebook posts
A BISEXUAL Virgin air hostess was forced to quit her job after describing singer Rita Ora as a “beautiful oil painting” in flirty Facebook posts.
Charlotte Whittingham, 25, told her lesbian lover about her encounter with the “flawless, gorgeous” star after serving Rita on a London to LA flight.
Airline bosses then contacted her, urging her to resign or face the sack for a data protection breach.
Charlotte complimented the singer online after serving her and comic Keith Lemon on a first class flight.
Hours after jetting off, she told her lesbian lover Rita was “flawless”, “gorgeous” and looked like a “beautiful oil painting”.
But two weeks later she was called by Virgin Atlantic chiefs who said her messages, visible to all her Facebook friends, would get her sacked.
She then received a disciplinary notice and bosses encouraged her to resign — explaining she faced the axe for breaching data protection laws and discussing VIP passengers.
Feeling she had no choice, Charlotte, of Reading, opted to quit the post she had held for 12 months.
But she told a pal: “I’m absolutely devastated — being part of the team at Virgin was my dream job.
“I’ve always been so conscious of not affecting the Virgin brand.
"But when my girlfriend made a status saying how lucky I was to fly with Rita, I simply replied about how beautiful she was. Virgin wasn’t mentioned.
“I just wrote that she ‘looked like an oil painting, she was so beautiful’ because she was so flawless.
“I’m a fan, but I stayed totally professional.
"She was so friendly and gorgeous I thought I’d share it.
“I paid her a compliment — I never thought it would jeopardise my job.”
The pal said Charlotte phoned girlfriend Stacey McClean, 29, in tears and told her to delete the post about 26-year-old Rita.
She did so straight away, but the damage was done.
Her friend said: “Charlotte was due to have a meeting, hoping they could resolve it.
"But management basically said it was in her interest to quit.
“She thinks it was a colleague that grassed her up — she’s deeply hurt.
“She doesn’t know why someone would go out of their way to ruin her life over a trivial little comment.
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“Most of all she feels like she’s let herself down.
"She’s just trying to stay positive and plan her next move.”
A Virgin Atlantic Airways spokeswoman said: “We respect both employee privacy and our customers’ privacy and therefore cannot comment on any specific situations.
“In general, we expect high standards of behaviour from all employees and ensure customer privacy is maintained across the Virgin Atlantic experience.”