Indian court sides with airline grounding 'fat' air hostesses

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Five air hostesses were fired recently by Air India for being overweight, so they filed a case against Air India for weight discrimination. But the Delhi High Court sided with Air India and said Air India has the right to prevent its air hostesses from flying for being “too fat”.

The court agreed with the Air India’s view that the overweight crew poses safety and health hazards. Also, the company faces tough competition from other airlines companies and with a healthy and lean crew they will be better prepared to handle it.

Air India’s staff wears traditional Sari clothing, while the new companies are embracing Western looks of suits and skirts.

Some of the air hostesses have worked in the company for many years, so a sudden change in policy might affect them. Air India can provide them with alternative jobs rather than firing them. But they should make the policy crystal clear the next time. For a customer, quality customer service is more important than the weight issue, in my opinion.

Air India firing these hostesses is ironic because the mascot they use in their ads is overweight. Maybe they should make it slimmer.

Airindia.in Air India's Mascot image:40819:1::0