Aeroflot Workers Are Told Passengers Want Attractive Flight Crews
"The flight attendants are not being discriminated against, as has been demonstrated in two court cases
that were ruled upon in Aeroflot’s favor this month." Last February, when the allegations by cabin crew members were first raised publicly, Aeroflot issued a statement denying any discrimination based on age or appearance.
The event took a bizarre twist, however, as two men defending the airline interrupted the proceedings to upbraid the two employees, talking about one’s breast size, and undercutting repeated assertions from Aeroflot
that it had not discriminated by arguing that attractive flight staff were important for business.
By NEIL MacFARQUHARAPRIL 25, 2017
MOSCOW — By Russian standards, the news conference on Tuesday was unusual: an airing of grievances by two female flight
attendants who had taken the rare step of suing Aeroflot, the country’s flag carrier, for age and sex discrimination.
The two women — one of whom had worked for the airline for 26 years — lost their initial court cases
and had called the news conference to announce they would appeal.
Aeroflot’s position was set out in the Court, which rejected the claims brought by Magurina
and Ierusalimskaya against Aeroflot." The two men had cited a passenger survey in which passengers overwhelmingly stated a preference for attractive cabin crews, and the airline’s public relations agency in London sent it out again on Tuesday.
Every Aeroflot flight starts with a video of three skinny, statuesque female flight attendants in the airline’s trademark orange uniforms embroidered with a flying hammer
and sickle gliding through an airport, and many new employees of both sexes seem to have been hired with young glamour in mind.