Air India sacks 10 ‘overweight’ air hostesses

by Sanjay Jha | January 4, 2009 at 10:59 pm

1332 views | 23 Recommendations | 18 comments

Obesity is certainly a deterrent in some profession where fitness is an extremely important criteria. Airlines expect their flight attendants to be slim and fit. India's state run airlines Air India had grounded inflight staffs who don't meet weight criteria creating a big debate.

The grounded flight attendants filed a case in the court but didn't have any success. The court rejecting overweight staff's petitions filed by the air hostesses and cabin crew. The court was clearly in favour of fitness over fat.

India’s flagship carrier Air India has handed 10 air hostesses the pink slip for being overweight.The hostesses, who were grounded some months earlier, were served the termination notices in the last week of December, a senior Air India official, who did not wish to be identified, told IANS.

All terminated hostesses were serving on domestic routes.

One of the sacked airhostesses told IANS that she was grounded two years back and had not been given salary since then. She got one month’s salary along with the termination letter.

In June last year, five of the airhostesses had approached the Delhi High Court, challenging Air India’s decision to ground them for being overweight. However, the court dismissed their petition.

The court said there was “no unreasonableness or arbitrariness” in the airline’s decision. It noted that there was nothing wrong in the rules which prescribe different weight limits according to the height and age of an air hostess.

The air hostesses also opposed a circular issued by the airline withdrawing the permissible overweight limit of three kg over and above the upper weight limit for them.

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Amitjha

at 23:13 on January 4th, 2009

What to react, good for air india and bad for the hostesses.The airlines could have provided some time to reduce weight, in case of failure then the sacking order would have been better.

Sanjay Jha

at 04:34 on January 5th, 2009

Amit, Thanks for your comments. I think Air India did indeed provide them some time to reduce the flab and they couldn't do it. They even fought a legal battle and lost it.

Iffy (not verified)

at 04:25 on January 5th, 2009

Flight attendents must stay fit for various reasons: firstly, to be presentable and have a good deportment (fitting in their uniform is critical), secondly, overweight flight attendents add to fuel costs and are actually not green and environment friendly, and finally, it is better for the flight attendent: a healthy flight attendent will not feel bloated (Boeing belly as it is called), will be able to handle the travel better, and will have more energy. I can think of a few Canadian and American airlines who need to sack a lot of flight attendents in my opinion.

Anurag Prashar

at 07:58 on January 5th, 2009

I admire the smartness of Jet air hostesses and glam of Kingfisher's.

Anurag Prashar has contributed a photo to this story.

azzayindia

at 08:14 on January 5th, 2009

scrap ths theory of female waitress instead get male ones

sara star

at 16:48 on January 8th, 2009

Being five pounds overweight is not "flab" and won't make a bit of difference for fuel cost. That is ridiculous! And by whose standards is "overweight" judged? Hollywood?

This is utterly judgemental and discriminitory.

sara star

at 09:06 on January 5th, 2009

Being skinny does not necessarily mean health. Studies show being a little "overweight" is the optimal healthy weight.

Geneva B

at 14:18 on January 5th, 2009

I believe this is quite discriminatory...we don't fire overweight cops and we could say being fit for their job is important as well! There are plenty of overweight men at jobs where fitness is deemed important, but of course women are expected to look a certain way to serve coffee in the sky! Ridiculous. And flying isn't green any way you cut it....

eastvanray

at 15:37 on January 5th, 2009

I would suspect that the only reason for the weight restrictions is asthetics. The airline business is one of the most competitive in the world and having attractive flight attendants would definately give an airline an edge over its competitive amungst male travellers. It is like the bar business; nobody hires ugly waitresses when they can hire (and keep) attractive ones. I bet they don't tend to hire women with bad acne or missing teeth either.

Iffy (not verified)

at 16:03 on January 5th, 2009

It is idiotic to apply the notions of 'non-discrimination' to a job based on appearance and deportment. We don't have 300 pound supermodels with bad skin; so why should airlines have overweight flight attendents? They should look good: they are the company's brand leader. I can't even understand why somebody would even go to the lengths of launching a legal case when instead they should exercise and eat well. Simple.

sara star

at 16:39 on January 8th, 2009

Actually there are large size models, and a lot of models do have bad skin. Besides we aren't talking 300 pounds. Air India considers 3 kg over the skinny weight to be too much.

israeli.agent

at 20:22 on January 5th, 2009

Personaly I agree with what Air India did. Otherwise who would like to see a two legged , never smiling cow coming to you saying " bomm... bomm..." with that "I hate you all" look and throwing food on your face.

Azzayindia has a point. Air India rather should go for 7 feet , square jawed, thick moustached body builders in place of oversized cows. Atleast that would discourage anyone who have a slightest intention of misbehaving during a flight. That including the terrorists who are trying to hijack flights.

Agent

mechasmart (not verified)

at 21:22 on January 5th, 2009

In 2008 I flew with several national and international carriers but the tardiest, from their uniforms to their inflight courtesy, was the cabin crew of Air <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />India. Perhaps Air India could have utilized them in some other department. Sara Star has questioned the audacity of the established standard to judge being over weight. A ‘standard’ is “established by consensus and approved by a recognized body that provides for common and repeated use aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context”. Standards operate within very narrow bands.