‘Fat’ hostess asked to shape up sues Aeroflot

Yevgeniya Magurina was ‘sidelined’ to make the cabin crew look younger

“Old, fat and ugly” is what Yevgeniya Magurina jokingly calls a group of flight attendants of Russia’s flagship airline Aeroflot who she claims have been sidelined in an apparent drive to make the cabin crew younger and more physically attractive. She is one of just two women who have taken one of the world’s largest airlines to court for that.

A Moscow court is due to rule on Tuesday in Ms Magurina’s lawsuit against Aeroflot in which she maintains she was taken off the sought-after long-haul international flights because of her looks.

The flight attendant’s claim, which triggered a wave of support as well condemnation, has put the spotlight on how women in modern Russia are still often judged by their physical appearance.

The first warning shot rang for Ms Magurina last summer when the 42-year old went to pick up a new No one cares about professionalism — you only have to be young, slim and pretty Yevgeniya Magurina, uniform and discovered that Aeroflot no longer stocks any above Russian size 48. Ms Magurina, who says size 48 fits her on the hips but not on the breast, used to order a larger size and get it tailored.

Then, all flight attendants were ordered to be weighed and photographed as part of a contest to staff a special business class crew. Several months later, she, who had typically worked as senior attendant, arrived at the Sheremetyevo airport for her flight only to see she was assigned a junior role: “You scan your pass, the names of the crew light up and you see your position. No one has even told me.”

Ms Magurina, one of Aeroflot’s 7,000 cabin crew staff, says about 600 flight attendants, mostly women, have been put on a list that she jokingly calls the “old, fat and ugly” and have been re-assigned for less prestigious flights. Like others, she was taken off the long-haul international flights and put on the lower-paid domestic ones:

“No one cares about professionalism — you have to be young, slim and pretty,” says Ms Magurina who lives in the suburb of Lobnya near the airport, home to thousands of Aeroflot staff.

Local courts in April dismissed Ms Magurina’s lawsuit as well as a similar claim by another flight attendant, Irina Ierusalimskaya.

The Moscow City Court is expected to rule on Magurina’s appeal on Tuesday.

Aeroflot in recent years has undertaken to transform itself from a drab post-Soviet airline to something that can rival the world’s best airlines on comfort and efficiency. Its most recent efforts included a five-year partnership deal with FC Manchester United and enlisting wellknown chefs to create menus for its business class passengers. An online forum of flight attendants in 2010 published a calendar with a nude woman, posing by an Aeroflot plane. The company promptly denied it had commissioned shoot and said it would investigate how photographer was allowed inside.