About the only person who is bothered is the lady taking the action, almost all of the other cabin crew I have spoken to about it really couldn't care less about having to wear an abaya, they might prefer not to but like most crews they would probably prefer not to be in Saudi in the first place, wearing an abaya only makes it slightly worse than it already is.

Miss Ashton was technically right. And morally right too.

Those of you who play the "wear the abaya"/"walk behind the man" cards deserve your place in the rogues gallery of the Daily Telegraph. Alongside the Dewsbury MP and others.

Anything is ok for money, eh?

And there you have it mR Angle
 

Mr Angle

You obviously live in a dream world. Have you not seen the support from, well about 98% from the public, no you haven’t have you. Have you any idea what the Muslim community are saying, be honest, you have no idea do you?

Yep in one posting you sum up exactly why MP's have noses in trough, why Police don’t ride a bike because they have not passed the "cycling test " why Coronation street hide the cross so it does not offend the Muslims.

Yes your right, no other female crew member complained about being told that like a dog behind the master you must walk behind the men, actually your right, says more about cabin crew mentality than bmi.

The fact that every other airline does NOT have that policy tells you all you need to know abiut BMI....looking forward to Baghdad?

Well if you think you won't like the answer don't ask the question. You asked "is no one bothered" and my answer, based on being around crews on the aircraft and downroute on a daily basis is that generally, within bmi, no one is. Perhaps I am wrong but I can't remember the last time having to wear an abaya came up in conversation and I have never heard anyone discuss the specific case.

My own opinion is that its the wrong policy and that they should never have even contemplated female crew members wearing an abaya, they were obviously poorly advised. A few months after starting the route it was plain that it was not necessary and they should have shelved it there and then but unfortunately most of the people who are in charge of these things are total muppets.

Funny how all the western woman that disembark in Saudi all put on an Abaya. Do the female crew walk behind their male colleagues...... No.:eek:

Some of the female crew actually prefer covering their heads with a scarf (although not required to do so) as they don't enjoy being stared at by men. Which is a common occurrence for western women throughout the entire middle east, particularly blondes.

6

You got that right Max
 

Muppets, how dare you compare kermit with those idiots.:)
Done a bit more digging on this, I actually think that the "muppets" are going to be in a awful lot of doo doo on this. Seems like they "misled" the court into thinking it was a requirment when it clearly is not for the women to walk behind the men. If female crew were not walking behind the men, why were they not dismissed as per Ms Ashton? Clear as day it states in the BMI manual "it is expected that female crew members walk behind their male counterparts in public areas such as the airport, no matter what rank."

With what appears to be happening behind the scenes with Lufty, I wonder what the Lufty boards view will be on a high profile case of blatent sexual and racial discrimintation going through the courts with BMI dirty washing hung out for all to see, not sure if they know yet, I suspect they will this week mind

flapsfullretard yep..cant argue the name
 

"maybe the lady in question was fed up of aviation and thought she could get a quick buck out of bmi (in these times of losses, great for her colleagues when all they want is their jobs and she is asking for thousands in (un)fair dismissal)"

Maybe the lady in question loved her job and was not fed up with aviation.
Maybe unlike those who "all they want is their jobs" actually had a backbone and told BMI to shove it because unlike those who "want to keep their jobs" she thought that being told to follow the men like a faithful puppy was demeaning and unlike those that "all they want is their jobs" still has self respect. This trate seems to be in short supply at BMI at the moment. There again ever was the case



Maybe she did not ask for Thousands in unfair dismissal, maybe the sight of seeing senior managers squirm was more than sufficient and the reason she took a stand.

"maybe she thought she could get that buck because bmi have never won an employment tribunal"

Maybe in all the ones BMI lost they should have done what they did in thisone...lied

"maybe she didn’t want to leave the cushy MAN long haul routes to work on the Saudi routes"

Maybe most companies who issue memos saying all crew will be trained before the start of an operation actually train the crew and don’t suffer terminal " clerical error" and don't train them. Oh and she flew short haul,

"IMHO she is a work shy freeloader looking for some easy cash to launch her music career"

Maybe you never worked with her because if you did you have just made yourself look like a....now whats the end of your screen name again?

"looking for some easy cash to launch her music career"

Not a BBC Radio 2 listener then? Her career was launched years ago? It’s what happens when you are nominated one of the BBC Radio 2's New “Songwriters Of The Year”


I'll have a voddy and redbull:ok:

Confused
 

Captain Sensible I can find no reference to Lisa Ashton on the BBC web site, or a songwriter of the year competition. Perhaps it was not bmi telling lies at the tribunal, or your response is confused?

As the the abaya, a google search will pull up a number of comments on the story suggesting that not wearing one in Saudi maynot be required but is "required" as one American lady living in Saudi puts it.

Well it may be "required" but it most certainly is not worn by the very chic and sassy Air France girls in KSA. Would be interested to know if Swiss, Lufty, Austrian and the seasonal European Hajj operators ( e.g Thomas Cook.........or do they damp lease?? ) insist on female crews covering up or do they follow the AF example??

Which explains why they get a hard time from the Customs every time they go into RUH!

I've seen them recently stop the whole AF crew to go through their baggage. bmi go through with the minimum of hassle. I think it is a 'no brainer'!

HWB

Yes it's important to drop one's principles for expediency. Halfwayback, that's a shameful post. If having your luggage being rifled is the price of not kowtowing to shamefully medieval society, then I applaud the bravery of our French cousins. By our example shall you know us....

Saudi royal kingdom
 

As many of you realise BA are restarting operations to saudi. They have sent all crew a list of Do's and Don't and it seems the list is endless. Girls will have to cover up with the abaya. Plus head scarfs if fair haired or islamic looking. Although I dont like the idea of having to leave my laptop at home remove all magazines and papers from my luggage, not wear shorts and hide my sexuality. I understand if the airline wishes to fly there taking good yield cash from the punters the least we can do is accept the local conditions and respect their culture no matter how foreign it is to ours. If I could pick and chose routes I wouldn't be flying very much. Eg Africa can be unsafe/ India dirty and beggers/ tel aviv etc etc and I am not trying to pick on any one nation just saying lots of places have downsides.

What happened to the idea that working as longhaul airline crew gave you a chance to see the world beyond Europe, and experience some of its different cultures ? Yes Africa can be unsafe in parts, yes India can be dirty in parts, etc.... but venture forth and you can have a fantastic time seeing the rest of the globe and how people live.

If the above doesn't appeal, perhaps retrain as an accountant and work for an insurance company in Croydon

Interesting to see BA is adopting the same policy (thank you dantheflyboy)
Presumably the airline should also not accept money from KSA customers in the first place?

I understand your point, but where does one draw the line in citing principles?

So Christian brunettes can strut their stuff. Think we'll wait and see if BA have learned anything from the recent crucifix affair before we comment. As to should we take their money? Well Saudi IS the home of Wahabbi-ism, the source of Islamisim worldwide and funs terrorism all over the place. The Government hasn't cracked down as it is corrupt. The reason we can do nothing, that's oil. It's a tricky toxic situation, but there's money involved so shut up girls and do as you are told seems to be the abhorrent fallback position.

I remind you that the 9-11 hijackers were idle rich Saudis.......

looks like its all going wrong
 

Just wondering about WW this summer. Are mainline operating any 319/321s as they did last summer out of MAN on behalf of WW?

Brian.

Brian
 

Nothing planned, rest assured it will be a trusty/rusty Boeing if your flying WW this Summer, mind you if its July/Aug/Sept and you haven't booked you'll be paying heavy money on the popular dates as most are sold out.

No INKJET, I'm not planning on any WW flights for the summer. My usual route of MAN-ORK has much better timings with EI than WW, I prefer the service and on-time reliability at EI.

Brian.

Brian
 

No Problem, if EI floats your boat, just curious why you asked???