British Airways suspends two employees for body-shaming flight attendant

Two British Airways crew members have been suspended from duty after making rude and unprofessional comments about a colleague’s weight in a private messaging group that came to the airline’s attention. The incident is currently being investigated.

The incident

Professionalism is an essential part of working in the aviation industry, not only for the airline’s customers but also for an airline’s staff, a high level of professionalism is of utmost importance. Therefore, it is no surprise that when British Airways learned of the hurtful comments made by two of its employees in a private group chat on WhatsApp, they immediately suspended the crew members from their duties.

The Standard reports that the two crew members involved made fun of a colleague’s weight and made cruel comments about it. The nature of the texts was shocking enough for one member of the group to report this misconduct to the airline management.

Photo: Tint Media | Shutterstock

According to reports, the colleague in question was attacked by the two crew members who made ruthless comments. The airline considers this to be bullying and does not tolerate it in any way. British Airways has been working with several unions and the Department of Trade and Industry since 2005 to identify and eradicate harassment or bullying in the workplace.

Minimum values, but no maximum values

Since cabin crew must perform manual tasks on board an aircraft, the airline has set certain minimum requirements, such as height. The airline’s staff recruitment page states that its crew members must be at least 1.575 meters tall and reach a vertical height of 2.01 meters to be able to perform tasks such as checking overhead bins.

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Cabin crew are subject to height restrictions to enable them to reach overhead bins and perform security procedures.

The airline has no minimum or maximum weight restrictions and simply states that crew members must pass a functional check to ensure they can safely perform the required tasks on board.

Photo: British Airways

In addition to the minimum height and vertical reach, the airline also checks the diagonal reach of the applicants as part of the functionality check before they are selected as a crew member.

Diagonal reach ensures that the cabin crew can manually open the aircraft’s emergency slide in an emergency. Crew members must be able to hold a handle with their right arm and reach down with their left hand to touch a tag attached to the floor. During the maneuver, the crew’s right arm is in the 2 o’clock position and the left arm is in the 7 o’clock position while bending or crouching.

You are responsible for your safety

Passengers are often not fully aware of the importance of crew members and their duties. From boarding passengers to disembarking the aircraft at their destination, crew members have a number of important tasks that ensure a smooth journey for passengers and, more importantly, flight safety.

Photo: British Airways

Consider, for example, incidents such as the Japan Airlines A350 collision earlier this year, which demonstrate the effectiveness and functionality of the tasks that cabin crew members perform every day on board thousands of flights.

Due to the close cooperation of the highly trained and experienced crew members during the Japan Airlines incident, the entire aircraft was safely evacuated without any passengers being harmed, despite the significant damage caused by the accident.

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During landing, the plane collided with a Coast Guard aircraft.

The bottom line here is that you should always be kind and respectful to the members of the cabin crew, whether you are a passenger yourself or another member of the crew.