On a Ryanair flight the other day, Cabin crew challenged someone who took a photo of his friends sat near to him and demanded he delete from his camera. We had not even closed the doors for departure !!!
There then followed an announcment to say that on Ryanair flights no photographs allowed inside aircraft at any time or of the cabin crew. Not come across this one in 35 years of air travel.
Always something new on Ryanair.
As has already been stated, the legal side of things is covered by the passengers' acceptance of the "Terms and Conditions" at the time the booking is accepted. If you fail to read the small print, then you have only yourself to blame - as with any purchase whether face to face, over the telephone or through the wundaweb!
To defend Ryanair's staff, airlines are very twitchy about photographs of their precious "brand" images, or their staff in uniform, appearing in the public domain. Nowadays, with "You Tube", "Facebook" "Twitter" et al, unauthorised images can appear very quickly.
Certainly, the BAA are very sensitive about Terminal 5, (and I suspect the new Star Alliance "East" Terminal once built), and it's not just for security reasons. The BAA's Press & Publicity department wishes to control what appears in public.
The guidelines we have been given as airline staff are that if Mum, Dad and Aunty Flo are taking a happy snap or two for the family album, that's fine. (Indeed, in the old days when Concorde was around, we may even have let them into a "closed" gate to get a better view!) However, if someone is clearly a "pro" with a tripod, telephoto lens, filters and all the other paraphernalia, or if someone is observed taking photographs of unusual objects (eg door locks, MAID card readers etc) then we are supposed to alert BAA security staff.
I don't think airlines and airport operators are deliberately setting out to be killjoys. There is a fine balance between safety, security and customer friendliness. (Indeed, after 09/11, the police actively encouraged our intrepid band of enthusiasts to help be the security services eyes and ears) If we can get the balance right, it will help everyone.
..............but I don't want a little RYR steward getting the sack because Michael O'Leary spotted his photograph on the internet either! .