Russia’s national carrier, Aeroflot, has been busted for (apparently) banning up to 400 flight attendants from its coveted overseas routes. And the reason, per The Sun, has been banned for being “old, fat and ugly”.
Various attendants have come forward with their complaints, after a group of staff reportedly wrote to Vladimir Putin to complain about their treatment, which they were informed was just part of a “rebranding” exercise.
One hostie, Yevgenia Magurina, claimed, “They told us all that only the young and thin will fly abroad for Aeroflot,” while another said the carrier was weighing the female attendants “like cows”.
The group of flight attendants, which have given themselves the name of STS – the Russian abbreviation for ‘old, fat, ugly’, say they’ve been shoved onto the crappy domestic routes while the younger, more attractive hosties get bumped up to glamorous international ones.
Not only do they miss out on the chance to visit foreign destinations, but it also means these loyal staffers lose money as well by being stripped of the better paying flights.
Per The Sun, attendant Magurina claims she’s been flying for 15 years and was a senior cabin crew member on international flights. But in August, after a shuffle of staff she wound up with solely domestic routes, apparently because she was not thin enough under new rules.
“We were all photographed en masse and measured, some were even weighed,” she claimed. “This was done under the pretext of company rebranding and ordering new uniforms for staff.”
According to the reports, some 400 flight attendants have been hit by the new rulings.
“They stopped putting anyone on international flights if they are older than 40 or take more than a (Russian) size 48 (Australian size 16),” she added.
“When I asked what’s going on, they told me these are the new rules of the game and that I was removed from international flights because of my clothes size — it mustn’t be more than a 46, and I’m a 48.”
Per The Sun’s reports, Igor Deldyuzhov, the president of a trade union representing flight crew, said there were many complaints of discrimination over age and appearance.
But apparently staff were scared to go to court because they have children and mortgages and can’t afford to lose their jobs, should it come to that.
Aeroflot has now released a statement, claiming, ““These allegations are without foundation — Aeroflot does not discriminate based on age, sex, weight, appearance, religious or political convictions, or indeed any other grounds.
“Aeroflot therefore robustly denies these baseless allegations.
“Aeroflot does not place geographical restrictions on where its cabin staff may fly and it does not restrict flight time for members of staff based on age or any other physical attributes, such as appearance.”
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