Aer Lingus films X Factor contestants sitting in business class before moving them to economy

A fellow passenger revealed that singers were transferred to the back of the plane once filming was finished

Aer Lingus’s most recent promotional video, showing the Irish airline flying the latest batch of X Factor contestants to the judges’ homes in LA, has been viewed almost 1,000,000 times on social media.

The excited contestants were filmed flying in style, sipping champagne up front in business class – but a fellow passenger has revealed that once the cameras stopped rolling, the wannabe pop stars were herded back into cattle class.

Irish photographer Paddy McGrath shared the video, which depicts the contestants trying out the business class reclining seats, along with the tweet: “So, I just happened to be on this flight... When the cameras were switched off, the contestants were all sent back to economy with the rest of us.

“So much for that Aer Lingus hospitality.”

He added: “[We] copped they must have been X-Factor contestants, but we thought they were just filming b-roll for the show and definitely not pretending to fly them business class to LA.

“They shot the piece when we were in the air, taking turns to alternate the contestants (which is why they’re all sat in the same seats in the video).”

The 16 acts who qualified were filmed saying phrases such as “Cheers to Aer Lingus!” while clinking glasses.

An Aer Lingus spokesperson said in a statement: “As part of Aer Lingus’ partnership with X Factor, we flew contestants to perform at the judges’ houses.

“The contestants were shown sampling the business class cabins. All footage was filmed by the X Factor production team and provided to Aer Lingus.”

McGrath was keen to stress that the service onboard the flight was exemplary. He tweeted: “For the record, the Aer Lingus cabin crew were absolutely world class on both legs of the journey as they nearly always tend to be. They rarely get the praise and respect they deserve.”

His original tweet has more than 2,000 likes and 460 shares on Twitter.