Qatar Airways stops plus size model from boarding, airline asked to pay for her therapy

Right when you think the world is changing for the good, there’s always someone, or a community of people proving us wrong. While it is still expected from backward class people to criticize someone on their colour, size or financial background, an airlines doing so is a huge deal. Recently, in a similar turn of event, Qatar Airways have been ordered to pay for the psychotherapy sessions of a plus sized passenger as they denied her boarding on the plane for being “too big” to fit into an economy class seat.

Juliana Nehme, a 38-year-old Brazilian model, has accused the airlines for discriminating her because of her weight on November 22.

According to Nehme, she was stopped from taking her seat in economy class and Qatar Airways staff told her to that she would be allowed to board only if she purchased a business class ticket for $3000, over and above the $1000 she had already paid for her seat in economy.

The model recorded the entire incident and later posted the video on her Instagram. In the clip, Nehme said that she was not allowed to board her flight from Beirut, Lebanon, to Doha and the Qatar Airways also refused to refund her ticket. Due to the chaos, she also missed her connecting flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil.

“What a shame for a company like Qatar to allow this type of discrimination against people! I’m fat, but I’m just like everyone else!” Nehme said.