Fat Hostesses: An Airline Health Hazard?

They are "disabled" by choice, unless they have a medical condition.

Those hostesses are costing the airline more in fuel charges.

"The air hostesses were between 11kg (24 lb) and 32kg (70 lb) overweight" ... what was their cutoff point, I wonder? Still, they are talking about quite a few KG there, so it's clearly not just a vanity issue.

The airline grounding them is sort of douchey, but I can see how very overweight stewardesses would be problematic. I think that the safety concern is valid. Plus, given how ridiculously cramped most planes are, you'd think that a very large person would have difficulty efficiently carrying out their job.

Do you really think, with all the discrimination and health issues that go along with being overweight, that people really choose it? That's an ugly attitude. And 24 to 70 pounds overweight won't make that much of a difference. There are football players and weight lifting types who are not fat who may weigh almost twice what I weigh, should they pay twice as much? What about children, half as much?

Are they firing the overweight men? Or are men not doing host jobs, only women?

I always thought there was a weight limit for flight attendants on US airlines to make sure they could comfortably get around the plane and to make sure the plane's weight limit wasn't exceeded. I would think that it would be really uncomfortable to be a flight attendant and be very overweight...last I checked, no one forces anyone to be a flight attendant, so if people are complaining about it, why not just get a job in a different industry?

Very interesting in that Air India is a state-owned company. This is the government taking a stance, that's for sure.

Do they fire fat pilots?

I agree with Jim, except I wouldn't say people don't try. Every person's situation is different. Also just because you try, doesn't mean you succeed. Being healthy is a life long choice, not a six month nutrasystem plan. Dawn, if everyone went to the gym 3-4 times a week and ate 800 or less calories per day FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIFE, I'm sorry but overweight people would be extremely rare.

As far as travel expense...If someone has a medical condition, no matter what it is, a doctors note should be a requirement. Weight should have nothing to do with it. Passengers with a Doctor's note should have no extra charge. Passengers without one should pay for their seat, if it takes two than they should pay for two.

If someone can do all of the job requirements they should be able to keep their job. If not, than I'm sorry, they should find something new.

Our society is so overly sensitive and weak.

I'm a small person at barely 5'2" and less than 100 lbs, and I find airplanes very cramped. If a person of my size finds it cumbersome to move around the cabin, I can only imagine how difficult it is for a bigger person. Add the fact that flight attendants and hostesses need to maneuver those food carts and respond swiftly to passengers' requests and any emergencies that may arise. I'm sure they all receiver proper training to learn how to do so, but there's much to be said against allowing grossly overweight (not merely chubby) flight attendants in the air.

Crystal-"if everyone went to the gym 3-4 times a week and ate 800 or less calories per day FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIFE" there would be a lot of malnourished, unhealthy people wandering around, overweight or not! 800 calories is starvation-it is not enough to maintain basic bodily functions, and it is not sufficient to ensure the RDA of all the vitamins and minerals we need to live.

Furthermore, even people who eat healthfully and exercise can be overweight. I know its hard to believe for those of you who don't deal with it, but humans vary on many factors (height, intelligence, skin colour etc.) and we should not be so shocked that people's weight would vary too. If we are "supposed to" eat 800 calories and work out vigourously just to maintain the weight that people like you and Jim deem appropriate, we would be weak, irritable, and unable to be productive in other areas of lives (see the literature on severe food restriction-people start to hallucinate and become deluded about food). I choose to priortize my physical and mental health above being esthetically pleasing for closeminded people.

Dawn,800 calories probilly isnt enough nourishment for your activity level. You may be slowing down your metabolism. I had this problem and used a calorie calculator I found on diet blog to find the proper calories for my activity level. It took almost 3 months for my metabolism to rebound. Meanwhile I focused on trying to get in 6-9 servings of fruits and veggies. My energy level did come up and my workouts became more effective. It might be worth checking out, best of luck to you.

For people saying this is discrimination... that's idiotic.

They made CONSCIOUS choices which got them into the fat state. Even then, they had a chance to lose the weight and they didn't.

I say good... i see nothing wrong with this decision. It makes good business sense. A fat person is slower to deliver service and takes more fuel to fly. Loose-Loose.

Let's hope they don't swing to the other end of the spectrum and hire Mary Kate clones.

- FJ

Have you ever had a very large flight attendant's ass in your face as they were bending over to talk to the person across the aisle from you?? Not nice. Could imagine a team of attendants squeezing down the narrow aisles? So if one is over certain BMI then why not hire all FA's over a certain BMI? We are not talking model slim here. I don't think it is discrimination at all, it is just practicality. Give them office jobs. When a pilots eyesight goes or they are too heavy to sit in the cockpit and manuever the controls do give them a pass? nope.

My god.

People come to this site for help and advice about a very sensitive topic and then get browbeaten personally by people like JimK, and called "permanent victims" by someone who doesn't even know them ?

I've lost weight through diet and exercise too and I know how hard it is. I would never EVER belittle someone who is trying to do it, just because I succeeded and they're still trying to come up the hill.

Some people never try, you say. Well, when it comes to compassion, apparently that's something JimK has never tried.