Flight attendant ruled too fat to fly

A 20-year legal battle between Philippine Airlines and flight steward Armanda Yrasuegi has finally ended with a Supreme Court ruling that grounds Yrasuegi for good. The airline dismissed Yrasuegi in 1989, because the 5’8 217-pound man had failed to lose weight, as required in his contract.

Yrasuegi cried discrimination, stating that his weight was a “sickness and physical abnormality” beyond his control, but this argument carried little weight when the flight attendant refused repeated offers of medical weight loss assistance. The Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling in favor of the airline, stating that Yrasuegi’s weight “indicates absence of willpower rather than an illness.”

The ruling went on to say that Yrasuegi’s weight would likely keep him from performing his job efficiently, especially in the case of an emergency. According to Gadling’s own flight attendant, Heather Poole, flight attendants must be able to fit through the exit door and buckle up in the jump seat, which may be difficult for a man nearly 60 pounds overweight.

The airline industry is one of the few where weight requirements aren’t discrimination, but rather simply necessary. We don’t know what Yrasuegi’s contract with Philippine Airlines specifically required in terms of weight, but it doesn’t seem that any airlines are asking their employees to have unrealistic Hollywood bodies. It also sounds like Philippine Airlines was willing to pay for its employee’s weight loss program — how many other companies would do that?

Who Else is Causing Trouble in the Skies?


No way! Australia beats US as world’s fattest nation

This is hard to believe, but I don’t think The Sydney Morning Herald would make it up just to beat the US at something.

The Herald reports that, according to a new report, 26 per cent of adult Australians – almost 4 million people – are now obese, 1 million more than the last calculation in 1999.

The findings mean Australia is the world’s most overweight nation, ahead of even Americans, who have a 25 per cent obesity rate.

The report says that 9 million adults have a body mass index over 25, making them overweight or obese, an increase from 7 million. Experts have called for obese people to be given gym discounts and for surgical waiting lists to be prioritized on the basis of weight loss.

I just don’t really see it. I went to Australia in 2005 and I didn’t see fat people anywhere. Seriously, where does Australia hide them all?

World’s Fattest Places/World’s Skinniest Places

I’m 5’10”, and I weigh about 150 pounds. I am by no means fat. However, when I lived in Zambia, I was routinely called fat by my neighbors. At first, I found it insulting, but I quickly got used to it. After all, compared to them, I was fat.

According to a recent survey by the World Health Organization, 8 of the top 10 fattest countries are located in the South Pacific — ironically, right along the equator, in an area so hot, all you want to do is remove all your clothes. If you like big butts (and you can not lie), here are the Top 10 fattest countries.

  1. Nauru
  2. Micronesia
  3. Cook Islands
  4. Tonga
  5. Niue
  6. Samoa
  7. Palau
  8. Kuwait
  9. United States
  10. Kiribati

Just to balance the scales, the Top 11 LEAST obese nations are (with the skinniest at the bottom):

  1. Zambia
  2. Burundi
  3. Central African Republic
  4. Cambodia
  5. Dem. Republic of the Congo
  6. Nepal
  7. Sri Lanka
  8. Vietnam
  9. Bangladesh
  10. Ethiopia
  11. Eritrea

The full list can be found at Forbes.

[Photo: &Y]