SINGAPORE: Vietnamese online activists lashed out at VietJet Air for its in-flight “bikini contest” that saw the low-cost carrier fined $1,000. The contest, which saw Vietnamese women strip down to bikinis, occurred on the airlines maiden flight between Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang, local state-run media reported. “I think it is disgusting what they did. It just hits the point that female flight attendants are sluts and can be used for their bodies,” said a Singapore Airlines Vietnamese flight attendant. The woman told Bikyamasr.com that “women in the air face all sorts of harassment and this just continues the stereotypes. We are women and not objects.” Five women, all candidates in a local beauty contest, performed the three-minute dance on the August 3 flight while passengers recorded the show on camera phones and later posted clips online. The airline “violated local aviation regulations" by organizing “an unapproved show on a flight," Nguyen Trong Thang, chief inspector of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam, was quoted as saying in the reports. Thang added the pictures were taken while mobile phones were in flight-safe mode and did not pose any risk.
