Doha: A court in Brazil has ordered Qatar Airways to pay for psychotherapy for a plus-size model who was denied boarding a flight allegedly because she was “too fat”, as she could not sit in the economy class seat.
38-year-old Juliana Nehme, said in an Instagram post, who has 1,68,000 followers, that she was not allowed to board her flight from Beirut to Doha on November 22.
Nehme starts by saying that she had flown with Air France on her outward journey to Lebanon, with no problems.
“I came on an economy ticket and did not experience any embarrassment or harassment,” she said.
“I bought a return ticket to Brazil through Qatar and arriving at the time to check in, a Qatar flight attendant called my mother while another staffer was finishing our check-in, and told her I wasn’t welcome to board because I’m fat,” Nehme adds.
Nehme continues, Qatar staff would only let her board if she bought a business class ticket for $3,000. She says she had already paid $1,000 for her initial ticket, which staff did not offer to refund.
Nehme further adds, “I tried until the end to allow me to fly, since we were four people travelling together, and she REFUSED UNTIL THE END to sell me the ticket! I stayed for almost two hours begging to travel. My mum tried everything.”
She also claims that one of the employees “pushed” her during the confrontation, saying, “I was threatened.”
“When I tried to record what they were doing, the girl at the counter pushed me and it didn’t help. I was extremely humiliated in front of all the people at the airport! All because I’m FAT! Shame on a company like Qatar to allow this type of DISCRIMINATION to people! I’m FAT But I’m JUST LIKE EVERYONE!”
“It’s not fair to buy my ticket and be HUMILIATED, THREATENED AND BARRED FROM FLYING!”
According to News.com.au, Judge Renata Martins de Carvalho ruled in her favor on December 20 and ordered Qatar Airways to pay for psychotherapy treatment so that it could deal with the distress caused by the incident.
The judge said that the treatment should consist of a “weekly therapy session” costing about 400 reais (Rs 6,389) for at least a year, totalling 19,200 reais (Rs 3,07,018).
Speaking to Brazilian media, Nehme said: “It was like I wasn’t a human being to them. I was a fat monster that couldn’t get on board. It was horrible. I’d never imagined going through something like this, ever.”
Nehme was eventually able to board a flight using her original economy ticket after an official from the Brazilian embassy in Brussels contacted Qatar Airways.
