Too sexy for the skies? Cathay Pacific flight attendant uniform ‘too revealing’

SOME flight attendants at this airline are seeing red over their “too revealing” uniforms. They say the blouses are too short and the skirts too tight, making them targets of unwanted attention.

Some Cathay Pacific flight attendants.

CATHAY Pacific flight attendants want the Hong Kong airline to redesign their uniforms because they are too revealing, a union says.

Female cabin crew members say the white blouses are too short and the red skirts too tight, leaving them uncomfortable at work, the Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants Union (FAU) says. “They are worried about the uniform being too short when they work,” FAU vice chairman Julian Yau said, adding that it may be a “cause” of sexual harassment.

He said the uniform had been a source of considerable complaint from female attendants since it was introduced in 2011 with some complaining that the shortness of the blouse left their midriff exposed when they bent down.

“The uniform represents the company and (should) also make the crew feel comfortable and confident”, Yau said.

Female flight attendants are not asking for a complete overhaul of the uniform but want the blouse lengthened and the skirts to be more loose fitting, according to Yau.

“We really hope that Cathay will do something,” he said.

Not all Cathay Pacific flight attendants are smiling ...

A study by the southern Chinese city's Equal Opportunities Commission in February found that 27 per cent of Hong Kong attendants had been sexually harassed on flights in the past 12 months.

Eighty-six per cent of the 392 participants who said they were sexually harassed were female.

Harassment allegations involved “patting, touching, kissing or pinching,” or “staring in a sexual way” or as “sexual jokes and requests for sexual favours”, according to the survey.

“We do not tolerate any form of harassment and take the issue of sexual harassment seriously,” Cathay Pacific told the South China Morning Post, an English-language daily.

“Crew are welcome to exchange their uniform any time if they feel the fit is not right,” it added in the statement.

Cathay Pacific did not immediately respond when contacted by AFP.

A Cathay Pacific plane taking off at Adelaide Airport.