Cabin Crew interview process ended based on weight - discrimination?

[CityCommuter]

I feel sorry for a friend who has always wanted to be a flight attendant / part of cabin crew for as long as I can remember. She applied and got as far as the first interview phase having already submitted a detailed application form. The form states that 'weight must be in proportion to height'.

She believes that the interview panel judged her when she walked into the room by the way they looked at her (UK size 18, height 5'5"). Obviously weight wasn't mentioned but she didn't get approval for the next interview phase. She thinks it's discrimination on their part and that it shouldn't matter even if she was a size 24! She doesn't even look like a size 18 btw but more like a 14. I'd like to advise her to lose a few pounds but can't as she has always been very sensitive to any weight related conversation even if talking about someone else! What advise would you give her?

@AmIPeriOrAreYouJustAnnoying

Being cabin staff is more skin to being a waitress/waiter. It's not comparable to being in the army or being a firefighter FFS!

Umm..You’re going to get some feedback on that…..

When I was flying it was considered that one of the most serious emergencies you could have in flight was a fire in the passenger compartment……it should be pretty obvious why won’t frighten you with the stats that have been gleaned over the years following some accidents..

As a result it’s pretty much a universal requirement that cabin crew are required to have some skills/proficiency in fire fighting. It’s not up to the standards you’d expect from fire/rescue stuff full timers but it’s a proficiency that’s trained and examined at least every couple of years.

@AmIPeriOrAreYouJustAnnoying

Being cabin staff is more skin to being a waitress/waiter. It's not comparable to being in the army or being a firefighter FFS!

What an insulting comment, cabin crew have to go through 6-8 week training on everything that could possibly happen on an aircraft, plane crashes, ditching in the sea, hijacking, pilot incapacitation, death onboard, fires in the cabin, we HAVE to know our evacuation drills off by heart because you can't access the manual when you're crashing, does a waitress know the difference between therapeutic, reserve and PSU oxygen available in certain types of aircraft? Thought not, we can be tri fleeted, so that means you can be trained in 3 different types of aircraft and the differences between Airbus and Boeing is staggering and after all that we have to sit yearly exams to keep our license current, if we fail those exams you get grounded and it can land you in trouble with the Airline, so you can fuck right off with your waitress in the sky bollocks.

@PrincessNutella

Planes are conscious of every pound of weight they have on board anyway--it costs them.

Which is why there is the system of excess baggage. This you don’t get on an all inclusive cruise ship where one can be a glutton and gain personal excess baggage.

I head some airlines have difficulty accommodating some passengers and so have suggested booking double seats if physically more suited. Again this is not discrimination if one can not fit into standard seating if you are too big needing more room. Usually you find on busy flights the taller passengers opting for bulkhead extra legroom seats. This is a reasonable accommodation adjustment other than booking your own private jet at astronomical prohibitive expense.

Sorry OP but the plain truth is that she is obese and as an obese person she is too large to safely do the job.

At least it is something she can change, if she wants to.

Yes cabin crew legitimately have certain fitness and size requirements to fulfil their role. Therefore some may be too big others too small too. Fitness for purpose in it’s literal sense. Super size cruise ships should be able to accommodate other sizes much more favourably than civil aviation where bums on seats is key is maximise occupancy per flight. There is little other room for manoeuvre on the other people (cabin attendants) airlines can select themselves for over crowded aeroplanes.

Before I lost weight, I landed in Bahrain and was the only person in the Cain and the crew asked if they could bring someone to counterbalance my weight... They brought 3 men

Join me (not CC but do annual training) on air crash in water simulation. To be plunged by a crane at high speed into a deep pool strapped into a jumpseatnand have 8 seconds to escape. They are not dollies, they are highly trained. The CC on my annual licence exam are always the most proficient. It's absolutely terrifying every time. In a copter my only job is to escape. They have to then account for people and life save.

Yes she is being discriminated against on basis of her weight but that is lawful, providing men are treated in the same way.

Airline staff need to be slim to fit down ailse and squeeze behind the trolley

If she truly wants the job she needs to diet and lose a few stone /slim to a 10/12

@WorriedWishingWell

Yes she is being discriminated against on basis of her weight but that is lawful, providing men are treated in the same way.

They likely are. I've never seen a big muscular air steward. They always look like jockeys. Slight.

Try Saudi Airlines. Big Arabic men who will wrestle your ridiculous seat to retrieve your phone.

@Themeparklover

It's why I don't bother with roles like that, I was underweight for many years, and due to a change in weight over the last 4 years have fluctuated between a 14-20 I have made dietary and excercise changes and even when I try my hardest just dont drop below a 14-16 now unless I were to literally starve myself

the fact is if your body is able to maintain its' current weight on whatever you eat now then that minus say 300 cals is what you can lose weight on - that wouldn't be literal starvation, just reduction. there are some people that can easily survive and maintain there wight on 1200 cals a day - they'd be genetically advantaged in a famine I guess but if they ate 1500 (what most people would consider somewhat restricted cals) they would gain that doesn't mean they're "genetically overweight" or that they can't lose weight....

Maximum respect to any cabin crew on here. I fully appreciate that your training is tough and you have to be prepared to step up when the rest of us are panicking.

I would’ve loved to have been cabin crew but my arse is too fat, so I don’t think I could’ve got away with it even with height and weight in proportion. No-one wants an arse at their face level unless by invitation.

I would have loved to try out being cabin crew, looked into it in my teens. I stopped growing 3” too early, however! Not really good for reaching the overhead compartments :)

@33feethighandrising

But the weight requirement isn't sexist. I'm yet to see an obese man working as cabin crew. Make up, heels, pencil skirts - yes, you can call those sexist. Weight requirements aren't.

You are entirely missing the point.

In countries where they can get away with it, airlines recruitment includes blatant sexist beauty standards.

In countries where they can't, they use weight to get round this. They are not only looking at weight for safety, they are ALSO using it as an excuse to employ attractive cabin crew, precisely because people like you and others on this thread say "oh it's about safety" and, for some reason, I don't know why, are so desperate not to see how sexist this industry is.

I am conflicted as to partial agreement with these views expressed here. The world with mass market relatively inexpensive civil aviation has created a fascinating global village via the air. Air travel brings together different cultures, customs, laws and regulations and also the sense of adventure of exotic far flung excitement of something new to our daily norm. We therefore have airlines representative of their home markets, cultures, demographics, and legal and political landscape and sensitivity. Therefore the global diversity includes from one end of the rainbow of choice - aesthetic labour VietJet Bikini Airlines and Kazakhstan Chocotravel to the polar opposite of woke political over correct hyper sensitive litigious north American airlines with some seemingly going the opposite extreme of reversed discrimination to seemingly only hire cabin crew of a certain senior age including fuller frame less fit and agile staff. I think both extremes are irrelevant in today's competitive commercial aviation sector as its virtual window dressing and corporate branding to attract a particular market segment. This is where Singapore Airlines consistently strike the right balance of professional service with quality personnel after exacting rigorous training leading to consistently winning global awards as gold standard trail blazers. I do think bottom line is indeed the bottom line as to fitness for purpose as preference for someone fit and agile to better assist with safety procedures in a rare incident. As to the sexiest point - I understand many cabin crews are very inclusive as to be a safe open employment environment sector for personnel of all sexual orientation types. After all it is not about sex but fitness for purpose. Bon voyage and safe travels!

Cabin crew also have to be a certain height in order to effectively use the overhead lockers. I'm 5 foot 1 so could never be cabin crew. It's not discrimination, its practicality of the job. and tbh at least weight is something you can lose. I can't grow taller

Does anybody else think that OP is the 'friend' by the lack of replies?

We are all thinking size 18 is fat?

Of course we are. IT is.

@claralara42

We are all thinking size 18 is fat?

Of course we are. IT is.

She's 5'5"!

@ImprobablePuffin

Does anybody else think that OP is the 'friend' by the lack of replies?

😂😂

@ImprobablePuffin

Does anybody else think that OP is the 'friend' by the lack of replies?

I think so.

Anyone who wanted to be cabin crew that much would know the height / weight requirement.

She's 5'5"!

Exactly. 5 ft 5 and size 18....

So @CityCommuter are you the 'friend'?

@KatherineJaneway

So *@CityCommuter* are you the 'friend'?

This is what I asked ages ago I suspect yes