One airline sent their cabin crew members quite the New Year’s gift, a standards bulletin notifying them that they are being put on a strict schedule to remove any excess weight. The Pakistan International Airlines bulletin was apparently sent to 1,800 cabin crew members and warned that they would be removed from active flying if they cannot meet the standards.
The memo which was sent by the airline’s general manager instructs flight attendants that they must lose 5 pounds per month based on their height. CNN notes that a “medium frame woman who is 5’7” would ideally weigh 133 to 147 pounds.
“Weight check of all the cabin crew will be carried out at their base stations respectively & comprehensive data will be maintained for perusal of Management.”
An airline spokesman told CNN that the memo was issued to ensure that flight attendants are “slim, smart and fit.” He also noted an increase in complaints about obese flight attendants and that “no one would like to have shabby crew in the aircraft.”
If you think the memo was sent without consulting top management, thin again, the Chief Operating Officer was included among those cc’d.
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2 comments
Are we supposed to wave this off as cultural differences?
I don’t know if these are cultural differences at all. Most U.S. airlines did things just like this until flight crew staff established unions.