Ugly people need not apply

There has been some discussion lately about the coming of clothing store Abercrombie & Fitch to Orchard Road. Most of the talk has centered not on the merits of having their clothes available, nor on their giant billboard of a nearly naked young man clearly in need of clothes (A&F or any others), but on their practice of hiring only very attractive young people to work as salespeople. There always follows a deafening silence – the sound of no one mentioning SIA’s long standing practice of hiring (and retaining) only very attractive young stewardesses.

I might be more likely to buy clothing from an attractive person than an ugly one, but I would definitely be more likely to buy from a knowledgeable and helpful person who took an interest in me than from a clueless person, no matter how good looking. And being served by a gorgeous stewardess does not make the food taste any better.

Today’s “Home” section in the Straits Times had an above the fold story of A&F’s no ugly people policy, as well as mention of a few small local companies that also seemed to have only good looking counter help. Again, no mention of our sacred cow airline. But below the fold was a half page ad featuring a beautiful Singapore Girl hovering over a passenger. Talk about irony!

SIA to launch low-cost carrier

That was the exact headline from today’s ST. And welcome news it is. I have often thought it would be wonderful to fly non-stop to the US and speed up the miserably long flight I make every year, but SIA’s current flights that go direct to New York have no economy class whatsoever!

It makes good business sense. Let the highly profitable airline take only high-paying business and first class passengers, and start a budget airline for regular people who don’t have $10,000 to spend on a single ticket.

The new airline would focus on medium and long haul flights. Most Singaporeans have done the usual holidays in the region – Bali, Phuket, Hong Kong, etc. This might help them get to more distant destinations, without paying SIA’s usual pricey rates.

There are other synergies as well. Instead of firing their Singapore Girls when they get pregnant, or develop crow’s feet, they could simply redeploy them to the low-end side of the operation.