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Flight attendant loses job for being less than 1kg overweight
- dekhn 7y agoIf there's a threshold, it doesn't make sense to make an exception for a person who is over the threshold, regardless of the amount. because if you did that, you just redefined the threshold (by induction, we can see this would permit people with infinite weight...)
- contravariant 7y agoThis isn't the case. By moving the threshold less and less each time they could keep moving it indefinitely while remaining below a chosen upper bound.
- dekhn 7y agobut that would just converge on the chosen upper bound, which suggests that upper bound was the threshold.
- contravariant 7y agoWell true but you don't have to accept all the people who reach the final threshold until you've actually raised it all that way, so it allows you to reject more people while avoiding nasty near misses. It also allows you to defer the final decision indefinitely, taking into account only those near misses that actually occur. For example I reckon you could get it to converge by e.g. accepting anyone who comes closer to the threshold than anyone before, this could avoid all near misses (for some definition of 'near miss') while almost certainly remaining bounded (unproven, ask your local mathematician for advice).
- onetimemanytime 7y agoHis point is valid though. If the cut off is 100 lbs and allow for 1 lbs more, then it really is is 101 lbs. Someone weighing 102 would still be fired and so on. Maybe older people have more problem keeping weight off (evolution) so this is also a way to keep them fit and young. I get the BMI thing not being accurate but then, maybe they don't want "big-boned" or muscular women there.
- basicplus2 7y ago"160cm-tall Ms Hassim, that meant her weight could be no greater than 61kg" 61kg is NOT a healthy weight for this height, BMI is a crock https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268439 https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268...
- jiofih 7y agoIndeed, it’s pretty much overweight.
- mr_toad 7y agoOnly slightly from a medical standpoint, and a fair way from being obese.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- grizzles 7y agoYeah BMI doesn't always work. Sometimes you can get short people who are carrying lots of muscle and their BMI is off. I know a guy like this, he's never juiced a day in his life and is ripped as hell but his BMI says he is obese, which is laughable if you look at him.
- Avi0n 7y agoBMI doesn't work for people who workout. But it does work for the average person since the vast majority of people do not work out.
- cocomittens 7y agoI am 161(.5) cm and range between 110-115 lb (50-52kg) and I am perfectly healthy...? By bmi and by several doctors opinions. Or do you mean 62kg is too heavy? I think it's the upper end of normal.
- asfarley 7y agoRecently I was on an airplane where the flight attendant couldn’t walk down the aisles without jostling the seats on both sides. I think a weight threshold (or possibly a horizontal-span threshold) is reasonable for this occupation.
- Stevvo 7y agoSometimes it feels like British Airways must have a minimum BMI requirement for female flight attendants.
- poulsbohemian 7y agoSo converting to imperial - she's 5'2, 136 pounds? That sounds like a very normal sized woman to me. I can't help but notice that she's been with the airline for 25 years and wonder if that's the real issue here, especially given the number of airlines listed in the article of not having similar weight guidelines. While perhaps this is a field necessitating certainly height / weight restrictions, this doesn't really sound like an individual who's a particular outlier in either of those areas.
- tropo 7y agoI don't think "very normal" is what we should accept. In an emergency, flight attendants need strength and speed. They should look like decathlon winners.
- scrollaway 7y agoDecathlon winners usually have other jobs. You may have to expand your search, lest you prefer having no flight attendant at all.
- travisjungroth 7y agoHas there been a single case in the US in the last decade where having a star athlete flight attendant would have saved someone’s life? I can’t think of one.
- onetimemanytime 7y agoThey should look like decathlon winners, think like brain surgeons and make minimum wage.
- anitil 7y agoIt's not unheard of for airlines to discriminate based on age (which is what I thing you're saying here). An acquaintance of mine was part of a lawsuit about this very thing in Australia in the early 2000s - https://www.theage.com.au/business/virgin-blue-loses-age-discrimination-case-20051010-ge10vr.html https://www.theage.com.au/business/virgin-blue-loses-age-dis...
- Proven 7y agoSuch carelessness!
- tropo 7y agoFlight attendants should be able to rescue the 99th percentile passengers. This means carrying the passenger, unconscious or screaming, to the door of the aircraft and beyond. There may be rough ground or water. The passenger should be moved to safety, well beyond any fuel slick or fire.
- scrollaway 7y agoI don't think you understand the job of flight attendants.
- cheerlessbog 7y agoOne under each arm? I think you are flying a student airline to me.
- cafard 7y agoThe 95th percentile for women is about 260 lb., for men about 285. I am not a small man, but at my fittest around age 30, I would have had a hell of a time getting somebody that weight out of an airline seat and out the door as dead or resisting weight.