During November and December 2022, aviation recruitment agency Meccti held selection days in Madrid, Spain for Kuwait Airways. Dreaming of a job as a flight attendant, Bianca, Mariana and María applied. The selection procedure quickly became an elimination round based on appearance and gender. The applicants were asked to strip down to their underwear for a full “inspection”. Spanish newspaper elDiario.es has compiled the testimony of three women who attended the process and who tell exactly the same story.
The interviews took place in Meliá Barajas hotel, close to Madrid Airport
From the beginning of the tests, offensive comments against the woman who attended began: “we don’t like your smile” and “you have a rollercoaster body” (tienes el cuerpo de montaña rusa). But the worst part was yet to come: when the recruiter had already ruled out a part of the applicants, the rest were ordered to enter, one by one, in a room.
In the presence of a woman, they had to unbutton shirts, pull up sweaters and skirts: they had to stay in their underwear for the recruiter to examine their bodies, an illegal practice in Spain, and in Europe.
Middle Eastern company Meccti, with several offices not clarifying its country of origin, published the selection process on its website and on social media channels. The company announced that Kuwait Airways requires the following:
Requirements
- Weight and height in proportion with a minimum height 160 cm
- Medically fit, able to pass medical exam in Kuwait
- Excellent overall presentation
- Ability to swim unaided
Customer Services
- Handle passenger complaints effectively & efficiently by using problem solving and decision making skills
- Provide a consistent level of excellent customer service to all the guests at all times
- Maintain a high standard of public conduct
- Ensure the needs of passengers are met in a proffesional enthusiastic and caring manner by paying special attention and understanding of other cultures
InFlight Security and Safety
- Maintain updated knowledge of all safety and emergency procedures, first aid and in-flight services
23-year-old Bianca also applied to work for Kuwait Airways
She filled in the information, added a resume and she received an e-mail to attend on the 5th of November. Together with about 60 other applicants, she showed up at the hotel, where they were met by two people, a man and a woman.
After a short introductory speech about the airline and the aviation industry, an English conversation between the applicants was held. “They rejected people who spoke perfectly English, but who were already 37 years old,” Bianca recalls. Three men were also denied as the airline doesn’t hire male flight attendants, the recruitment team said.
The selection continued when the remaining applicants were made to enter, in alphabetical order and one by one, a room. “The first girl came out crying and she told us that they had made her take off almost all of her clothes, except her undergarment. It was her first interview. The others came out telling the same thing, it was hard for me to believe it, I was freaking out. But they were not exaggerating,” Bianca stresses.
When it was her turn, Bianca entered the room, the recruiter asked her date of birth, her weight, her height and if she had visible tattoos… “It was the second time they asked me that,” Bianca recalls.
She then asked Bianca to pull up her dress: “I pulled it up a little bit, just below my knee, but she pulled it up into her panties. The dress had a zipper down the back and she asked me to pull it down to my waist and stay in a bra. She said it was to see that we didn’t have scars, birthmarks, tattoos. He was turning around me to look exaggeratedly at my body.”
Bianca made it to the final test, an English test. Despite the fact that she has been working in that language for several years and having a C1 level, the recruiter failed her on the test. She asked him to review her exam, but that was denied. The recruiter then said: “Kuwait and Romania (Bianca’s country of origin) are closely bonded, so I can help you.”
She refused to stay any longer at the interview and left: “my parents picked me up and there I began to assimilate everything. I felt very bad, at that moment you don’t realize it, many people say that you did it because you wanted to but it’s so surreal at that moment.”
Bianca’s story coincides with that of 23-year-old Mariana
Last year she obtained the cabin crew member license but she has not yet served in any airline. “I saw the ad on a page for crew members, I verified that I met the minimum access requirements and I applied.”
A few weeks later, she received an email announcing that she had been shortlisted for the December 5 process in Madrid. Mariana arrived at the place very early “just in case”. Already in the event room, the recruiter introduced himself as part of the Meccti company and stressed that he worked as a recruiter for Kuwait Airways.
“He told us that after another selection day one of the rejected girls recorded a TikTok-clip complaining and that if we had a problem we would send them an email directly.” The English conversation test and the presentation in English began. “The men were told that they only hire Kuwaiti men. Then, they started eliminating girls. One who spoke seven languages was denied for having a mini scar on her eyebrow. Another one was told that she had moles on her face. Another one for being a bit plump. And another for having glasses and braces, that she didn’t like her skin or her smile,” Mariana describes in detail.
Mariana arrived at the individual test where they enter the room one by one. “I was one of the last, and I saw many people coming out with their shirts half open, still buttoning up, or with their dresses half down or with their skirts up… Those of us who were last looked at each other and said ‘but what’s going on?“.
The male recruiter then invited Mariana to stand against the wall for measurement. “He told me that I have spots on my face, and that he didn’t like it. He rubbed my face to check for makeup and asked me if I could smile. He looked in my mouth to see my teeth and asked me to take off my glasses as Kuwait Airways doesn’t usually hire people carrying them.”
In the other room, the female recruiter asked me to pull up my skirt: “she asked me to unbutton the top of my shirt, she touched my arm and took it off. I stayed in my bra with the skirt and my stockings. She looked at my arms and my body, I felt like an animal in the zoo.” Mariana applied for several other airlines before, but she has never been treated like that: “I made it to the English test, but they failed me, I never knew why.”
The inhumane and unworldly selection process didn’t end with the interviews and the body examination. The recruiter informed the applicants that, if selected, they would have to pay a €1900 guarantee to cover part of the training expenses, the transfer to Kuwait and the initial accommodation. “But he also told us that if we went ahead and started working there we wouldn’t spend anything, that we would only earn money,” recalls Mariana.
On its website, Meccti defines itself as “leader in aviation recruitment“. It boasts of recruiting cabin crew and pilots “all over the world.” Several partner airlines appear on the website such as Kuwait Airways, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, Saudi Arabia and Spice Jet.
“He bent down to look at me from the ankles,” 19-years-old María said
However working for a European airline since March, Maria thought it would be a good idea to see how other selection processes worked. “During the English test, they started rejecting applicants because of their physical appearance. An applicant was too old, another one had a freckle on her face, another one was too fat. Some were told to lose weight, others were asked to gain weight,” she tells.
María confirms the story of Mariana and Bianca: she also had to take off her blouse and pants and was checked upon, up from the ankles.
“I was told to remove my tattoo on my ankle which I already had planned to remove with a laser. After the visual inspection, I was measured and asked for my weight.”
elDiario.es has tried to contact Meccti via e-mail, social media channels and on the phone and also tried to contact Kuwait Airways in various ways, even through the Kuwaiti embassy in Spain. They still have to reply on the questions of the newspaper.
Meanwhile, Meccti announced new selection days in Spain, this January, without providing a specific date.
Source: Una empresa que selecciona azafatas de vuelo exigió a las candidatas quedarse en ropa interior en un proceso de selección (elDiario.es)
Soooo, if you felt uncomfortable, have been warned about what’s to come by other candidates, WHY did you agree to be handled like this? Did they put a gun to your head? Why did you not tell them to stuff it and walk out? Better yet, why did you not call the police?
It seems as though all who went to this event missed all the EU memo on how this is unethical and illegal.
What a shock-Arab airlines hiring based on looks, age, and appearance!
Well, I see a couple of things here:
First of all, academies that sell these cabin crew training programs know better and are fully aware of these “practices” so, forewarned is forearmed, other than that they’re just selling fairy tales. I believe other operators in the Middle East use similar recruiting tactics when hiring cabin crew. Maybe they disguise it as a “medical check”.
Second, and very important point to bring up: Spain is quite discriminative when it comes to tattoos, piercings, dyed hair, ethnicity, body mass index (to mention a few), and especially when it comes to age and I would say that local authorities and employers wipe their butts or give a blind eye when it comes to this “so-called” EU memo. So in this given case, I would stick to the quote: “The shoemaker’s son always goes barefoot (in Spanish: “en casa de herrero cuchillo de palo”.)
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