How does an air hostess’s weight matter ? Of course it’s vital, as any airlines will tell you. Air hostesses must be slim and young and pretty. Never mind if they are not courteous or speak such poor English that they do not understand what “toast” means. That’s not what their job is about anyway.
The Hon’ble (male) judges of the Delhi High Court would agree. The Court thinks that Indian Airlines (or Indian or Air India or whatever they call themselves now) was right to ground five air hostesses because they were overweight. This is what the Hindu reports:
The rules prescribe different weight limits according to their height and age. For an 18-year-old air hostess with a height of 152 cm, the maximum weight permissible is 50 kg while air hostesses in the age group of 26 to 30 and a height of 152 cm, the weight limit is 56 kg.
Of course, Air India itself is very overweight and the Maharajah packs a hefty paunch, but then the Maharajah is not an air hostess.
I had always thought that air hostesses are really a sort of glorified waitress. Except, they are waitresses who don’t depend on customers’ tips for their income, which explains why air hostesses in US airlines are so rude to passengers. But apparently not. Air hostesses must be in the fashion industry. Why else would they have rules saying air hostesses can’t marry, get old or put on weight? I thought such rules were only reserved for models. Also obviously, male stewards are not in the fashion industry. That is why none of these restrictions apply to them.
But why stop at just age and weight? The airlines have other secret rules for air hostesses that explain the quirks in their appearance, behavior and the quality of airline service these days. I have seen these rules in action in the US, and I am sure they exist in India (or Indian). So for readers of this blog, I am letting you into a trade secret that is guarded zealously by the airline industry. I shall tell you the secret rules.
The Six Secret Rules for air hostesses:
Rule 1: Air hostesses should remember that they are, first and foremost, sales persons. They are responsible for selling stale trail mix, cheap headphones and overpriced blankets and pillows. Unfortunately, airlines do not as yet sell water, so air hostesses should refrain from handing out water unless specifically requested by passengers. Even then, they should provide water only in tiny water cups.
Rule 2: All air hostesses should wear high heels that are at least 6 inches high. Heels of five inches may be permitted in special cases, with prior approval. They should sashay through the aisle, rolling carts on high heels, and also use these heels to curb passengers who demand too much attention, like extra cups of water.
Rule 3: Air hostesses should have long fingernails that are at least an inch long. Long fingernails are an important accessory that can be used to dip into cups and discourage use of complimentary drinks by passengers. They can also be used to poke passengers while handing out cups of water and juice.
Rule 4: Make up is very important. Nail polish and lip stick should always be bright red in color. Also, make-up should be applied heavily, so the face looks pale, contrasting with the bright red lipstick. Eyes should be heavily made up. This appearance, when combined with a glare, may scare some of the more timid passengers.
Rule 5: Hair color should be brown on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On all other days, it should be black. Red and orange highlights are recommended.
Rule 6: Air hostesses should give the appearance of smiling at passengers. But genuine smiles are not recommended, in case the passengers get too friendly and request additional cups of water, newspapers or other services currently free.
The airlines take interaction with passengers very seriously. Hidden cameras will be placed above each seat to monitor whether air hostesses chat with passengers or otherwise indulge in courteous behavior. Such behavior can attract disciplinary action. Air hostesses are permitted to be rude to economy class passengers, however, and also to smile in relief, however, when passengers depart the plane.
Perhaps there are more. Certainly the airlines seem to invent a new rule every day, and you just have to open the papers to learn about it. So readers, can you suggest more rules for air hostesses that you have come across?
Tonflourbroab
Savvy Aggarwal
Maria
Arindom Borah
erydaytrams
Nice writing style. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Chris Moran
Hilarious. Why were cups of water not used in Rules 4 and 5? Don’t they have to make red lipstick marks on using those water cups and then handover same to the other passengers? Do they mix their daily hair dyes in the same water cups?:P
It is said that out of airspeed, altitude, or brains, one who flies needs at least two of those. Btw, what do you call a pregnant air hostess? Ans: Pilot error. Hahaha..stop being wicked Lekhni.:P
damn right about the size of the cups, if they’re any smaller they’d look like saucers and not to mention the look they are trained to give when one doesn’t buy that 70 buck sandwich.
Really cool post.
7. Always slam the overhead department close.
8. If you make people interested in the safety notices before the flight, you are instantly fired. Let those suckers burn.
They should sashay through the aisle, rolling carts on high heels
that with a nice pair of legs please!
I have flown jet and kingfisher in India and the ladeej there beat the dames of AA, NWA etc hands down! in terms of service as well as you-know-what!
ps: southwest, airtran, delta are not even considered!
You forgot the ‘must mumble into the phone when making announcements. Any comprehensible utterance will be instant grounds for dismissal’ rule, Lekhni.
And what about the ‘must be compulsive user of Fair-and-Lovely/OlayRegenerist’ clause?
Chris Moran: Thanks! I take it you are not a publisher, then?
Celine: I had a strong suspicion I might have overdone the water cup references
But me not being wicked? What, isn’t that my motto ?
Ujj: Ah yes, I’ve seen that “you must be just too cheap to buy this” look
kalafudra: Oh yes, you should flex your muscles when you slam the overhead compartment. But refuse outright to help anyone (however old) who is struggling to lift their bags. What are fellow passengers for, then?
maxdavinci: Yes, those are the newbies – it’s going to take them some time to reach AA/NWA levels
Sujatha: That’s true
Mumble, sound bored, utter the lines in a singsong fashion that tells everyone who are reciting from rote and couldn’t care less (especially, as kalafudra says, during the safety instructions) 
Suggest? I’ve heard about this weird rule, apparently existed(or exists) but never was verified. One particular Indian airline(not sure which) has a rule saying all air hostesses must have names containing not more than 4-5 letters. So you find only Pinky, Dolly, Rita, Sita and the likes! Oh, well, there is a Sita!
The classic SNL “buh-bye” video is practically obligatory on this post!
Adithya: That sounds positively bizarre. Why do they do it? As usual, I find reality is much weirder than anything I can imagine
km: I couldn’t find it on youtube – seems to have been pulled by NBC. Please link it up if you find it!
Aww… and I always wondered why I got a scowl whenever I refused to drink water and asked for orange juice!
gave me a seriously good laugh ! plenty of thought in there lol !
and regarding the air hostesses,even their restrictions on maternity issues are absolutely unfair.it is such a competitive industry..you should have also added that these host of schools that have begun training air hostesses include all these points as mentioned in their syllabus
…and did you know that they are grounded if they have three pimples? two is fine, but three is the pimple that breaks the airplanes back.
.. i think my favorite was a KaliMa avatar in Air India who a) yelled at the timid passenger who asked her something in chaste bambaya ” tereko samaj mein nahin ata hai – ek baar bola khana baad mein milega to BAAD mein milega” and then b) she along with her groupies rushed to deplane once the plane had landed ..uhm ..much before the passengers had a chance to.
LOL …I liked that tone. But seriously weight issue does not belong only to Air India; I could see overweight air hostess in AA and Swiss airlines as well.
there could some rule about the length of skirts as well
I liked that in international airlines the safety instructions are shown over the display unit ( it refrains me to see the “the unwanted/how boring) kind of expressions on those make up loaded faces.
another rule could be “With red nail paint and red lipstick the eye shadow has to be green or blue ”
- the bells to call the air hostess should be ignored until the bell is rang minumun three times.
sudipta: Except in Florida, where the orange juice is probably cheaper than water
But seriously, have you noticed that air hostesses in US airlines never offer you water? I suspect they carry very little bottled water. Today’s NYT article says they are going to reduce water even from the toilet tanks 
Meghana: I am sure the training schools add all these rules, though teaching English may not be one of the things they do! The “toast” incident happened on an international Jet Airways flight.
A Cynic in Wonderland: So do they line up before each flight while somebody counts their pimples
Air India is just priceless – pity the poor soul who has health issues requiring regular meals
I guess the air hostesses are all too ready to show that behind the plastic smiles, their true nature is that of a street-fighter.
BlueMist: Great ideas! What’s with the blue eyeshadow? And yes, the call button pressed 3 times is very true too..and the constant bored expressions.. you can see they are thinking “This job is so beneath me, you guys should be so thankful you are on the same flight as me.”
From Personal experience, Air India air hostesses are also required to act as moral policeman, lest the Indian youth does not get corrupted!
I travelled Indian Airlines to Malaysia some years ago, and the air-hostesses were more like school teachers!
Great post, Lekhni.
I saw all shapes, sizes and colours of hostesses on various flights in and out of the US last year.
And some of them looked older than I am, which is quite old. But they were uniformly nicer and kinder than the male staff, all of whom seemed to be marking time till they got something ‘better’ to do.
I found that our Indian hostesses usually wore far more warpaint than the firang ones. And that Jet Airways has the nicest staff of all.
This weight thing is sickening. It is so very sexist.
We need to chuck out all fat politicians, as visible symbols of skewed consumption of national resources.
Since there is a lot of generalization in this post, I hope I am not committing a sin by joining the bandwagon
I am a frequent flyer, and one thing I have distinctively observed when it comes to airhostesses (or stewardess as to speak) is that, the more attractive and strikingly beautiful they are, the more unfriendly and arrogant they are towards passengers. I love those older ones, who have a very motherly aura around them. Those air hostesses are extremely nice towards me. But I have indeed received prominent raised eye-brows from the younger “firmer” looking ones when I ask for water… duh! as if I am asking for that water just to get a chance to talk to them! But I guess in a way I don’t blame them for that kinda attitude because they must be getting it a lot everyday from desperate passengers. But again, they have to be professional about it too and can’t vent out their frustrations at innocent passengers like me 
The Pilgrim: What do they do, glare when someone orders a beer? Or a martini?
Lecture on how alcohol is bad for the liver and would turn the liver into a dier?
aandthirtyeights: “Get back to your seat NOW!”
Though in all fairness, I wonder, why do some people stand up and start taking out their bags as long as the plane touches down (and while it is still taxiing) ? It’s not even saving them any time – their (checked in) bags will still take forever.
dipali: Good to see you back! Hope you are feeling better! I agree, Jet Airways has some nice staff in the international route. I haven’t flown many of the newer domestic airlines in India, so I don’t know how they compare. I had a good experience in Kingfisher, though. I also agree that air hostesses in the US are not as spectacularly (or as frequently) rude as in India, here the rudeness takes on a more passive-aggressive form generally.
Kima: Of course, join the bandwagon! Going by your logic, you’d expect those pretty young things to be nicer to women passengers, right, since we are not (that) likely to hit on them? But I can very well imagine what you describe happening in India (here, not so much). And you make a great case for why the airlines are all wrong to focus on inexperienced eye candy as air hostess material instead of matronly women.
Hi you left a comment on my blog about favicons not showing in both browsers. I tried something that works on my blog. Firefox and IE show my favicons. Here is the code I used, hope it can help.
Does any country has age, fitness and/or intelligence levels prescribed for politicians?
Asuka_Aki: Thanks, but I cannot see the code in this comment. I suppose WordPress swallows it
Rajesh Kumar: You’d think they would have some rules to prevent people in their 70s and 80s from trying to run for office, right? The intelligence levels might be tricky though – one could argue that anyone with intelligence would stay away from politics
Haha, I was wicked and tried to blame you..LOL
When you have a few minutes to spare, please come over to check my post on Orchha. I don’t know what makes me think you might like it, maybe because of Datia?
there is an executive or a specific age required in hostesses job
dis all rulez r totally bluffed and a whole lot of fake who has written dis nonsense?????????? bloody hell iz dis
heheheheheheheheheh
haha like the cups, did make me smile
Im only 14 atm (in england too!) and i really want to be an air hostess (:
i used to travel ALOT and i think its such a nice feeling when ur hostess is actually genuine, nice and has a good humour.. i wanna be one of the rare nice ones (:
&&I promise to give out cups of water larger than a shot glass (:
Nice read. It isn’t much different in budget airlines in India today.
Incidentally, it is just today that I posted this long pending post on in-flight behaviour of us menfolk at my blog.
I read your post, it was hilarious. I did travel by Jet Lite during this India trip, but I thought air hostesses on budget airlines too were friendlier than those in the US. I can’t pinpoint why exactly – maybe it’s just because I’m unused to being called “Ma’am” at every alternate word
off course the weight matters.
I could imagine the oversized crews trying squeeze through the tight aisle. Moreover carrying extra weight cost money for the airline. Extra fuel is required for the extra Kg on board.
joha
blogger for air hostess
Really such a cheap ….yes weight matter bt as the wroter is saying its compulsory to wear Red Lipstick & Nails and all ….its nt like this every airline having there different different colours …and for your information Air hostess just hv to use little Dark shades of Lipstick & Nail Paint. And overload of evrything is bad and nt dong so. And I felt writer might b having experience of some cheap airlines otherwise he’ll nt write like this.
And air hostess can not behave rudely with passenger and they have to be curtious. Yes they are rude too bt depend upon situation & circumstances. If any passenger will misbehave with them then definitely they have to b rude.
So pls my request is to writer is before commenting on anything kindly take the full knowledge.
I will prefer to open a paan shop instead of becoming an air hostess.This job was glorified because of hindi movies where heroines worked as air hostess.
This is one of most hyped jobs because of old hindi movies and tv serials where heroine played the role of air hostess.Its a plain waitress job ,nothing else.
actually my height is about just 5 ft..but i am much more intrested to be an airhostess…….
Honey (Kripa) In Air India there are different creteria for height but minimum height they want is 154.5 . So its your hardluck that you will definitely failed in Medical Test. Any ways Try something else. Good Luck For Future..
So far in india I’ve only found indigo airhostesses to be friendly, courteous & genuine. Even kingfisher airlines have dracula airhostesses with horrific manners.
Thanks to media, air hostesses jobs are rage in small towns.But in my view they are just glamourised form of waitress.
Is it force or compulsory for an Air hostess to put on make-up….because when someone is an air hostess and from the country the person comes from make-up isn’t allowed in their traditional regional culture…..how is it going to be ?
such a stupid foolosh kind of rule its nt exist in real one nonesense
while training perioud do they allowe cell phones?????????????
Coz some1 told me tht cellphones are not allowe while training means they can not call any1 till 2 months of training???????
Your sitting there saying that about cabin crew, but at the end of the day you need them. If you got onto a plane and had to make your own drink look after yourself and others you would hate it. Their aren’t just about lipstick and high heels. They have a lot of training to do before they can be apart of cabin crew. This training includes fire training, swimming training and also medical training for your safety! I know this as I have been studying to become apart of Thomson Airways cabin crew and it’s not easy. So if you don’t know about it then don’t judge it. Because at the moment your are judging a book by its cover and not knowing the inside. (They don’t have to wear lots of make up.)
I like to being an air hostess b’coz they very cute & fashionable