Are Air Hostesses "Worth the Weight?"

There was a point at the end of the last millennium and the beginning of this one, where a lot of people in the World would flatly reply "India" to a question. That question was, "Which country do you think has the prettiest girls?" Today, external beauty and "attributes" are viewed to be important for guys getting hitched and apparently for being an air hostesses in Indian, the domestic carrier in India.

I don't have an issue about either of those parties' views. That's their taste, their opinion. The part I cannot accept is the fact that the airline has actually cited safety reasons for not allowing "over weight" air hostesses. The even funnier thing is that a high court, chaired by a woman actually ratified this view. Talk about women's empowerment - or should I say mockery of it?

For an airline which has aircrafts whose age can be compared to most ageing things on the planet and which has the policy of having air hostesses up to the age of 58 - this is something which is completely out of colour. People argue that an increase in competition has forced their hands into such a move. The simple fact is that Indian is not good enough because of poor efficiency. Pretty airhostesses are just the icing on the cake. So, how can you put icing on a cake that doesn't even exist?

My question is that will an airline refuse tickets to an obese passenger? The answer is no. I have not once seen an obese air hostess in any airline, so why the discrimination? Instead of saying, "we need pretty, thin air hostesses who are presentable to the public" - they've taken the easy way out by citing safety reasons. That's just my personal opinion. I know many companies have regulations, but they don't go about changing the rules so radically - especially rules like these.

Air hostesses are integral to an airlines' success. Today though according to law, they aren't worth their weight. I really don't know whether this is right or wrong. The only thing I can say is that only the people who have the bottle to speak the truth will succeed. Will Indian succeed in their quest for thin air hostesses? That is the proverbial million dollar question.