Former Emirates staff have claimed they had their weight monitored and were punished by the airline’s grooming officers if they were deemed too heavy.
The former flight attendants have described how the “weight police” placed some employees into an “Appearance Management Programme” if they went up a dress size.
Staff were allegedly threatened with pay cuts if they did not keep up with the UAE-based airline’s image policy.
Karla Bayson, 36, who worked for Emirates for nine years until 2021, told Insider that colleagues who had put on weight were told by bosses to “lose it.”
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She claims that every two weeks after a warning, they’d be “checked again” to see that they had dropped the extra pounds.
Maya Dukaric, another whistle-blower who previously worked as a flight attendant for the airline, claimed that the weight police would occasionally stop cabin crew at airports and say: “Hey, babe. You need to slow it down.”
Putting on a “glamorous Emirates face” is crucial for the airline’s cabin crew, Dukaric added.
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A third ex-employee said in the last three years of her time working for the airline she had her body size monitored because an anonymous colleague had complained that she was too heavy.
Duygu Karaman explained that despite being a size 12, weighing 10st 7lbs, the airline began tracking her BMI and would be pulled aside at random for weight checks before flights.
The Dubai-based carrier reportedly put her on a weight management programme because she was 2kg over its requirements.
In response to the allegations, an Emirates spokesperson said: “As a global airline, we treat the wellbeing of our employees with the highest priority, and we believe being fit and healthy, both physically and mentally, is a critical aspect in them carrying out their duties safely and effectively.
“It may not always be apparent to our customers, but the responsibilities of our cabin crew are vast, and their ability to influence and achieve safe outcomes when needed, requires extensive training and a minimum standard of physical fitness.
“We’re proud of our colleagues who form Emirates’ cabin crew: who provide unwavering, exceptional service and who help maintain the safety and quality of operations and service Emirates is known for.
“We do not comment on internal policies or procedures or specific, confidential cases of existing or past employees”.
