Airline to pay woman’s therapy after she was made to feel like a ‘fat monster’
An airline has been ordered to pay for a plus-size model to undergo therapy after she claimed staff made her feel like a ‘fat monster’.
Brazilian influencer Juliana Nehme, 38, said Qatar Airways stopped her boarding a flight from Beirut to Doha because she is overweight.
She claimed that instead of offering to refund the £830 she had paid for a seat, they told her she had to fork out an additional £2,480 for a ticket in first class, where they are bigger.
Ms Nehme, who ended up staying in Lebanon with her mother while her sister and nephew flew home, discussed the ordeal while speaking to media in her homeland.
She 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.
‘It hurts me now to remember how much I blamed myself, because I blamed myself a lot, I even asked my mother for forgiveness several times.
‘I said, “Mum, forgive me, because me being like this stopped you from going home”. And she said it wasn’t my fault.’
The airline has now been ordered to pay for Ms Nehme to have psychotherapy to help her come to terms with the distress she endured following a court hearing in Sao Paolo, the Daily Mail reports.
The newspaper states it will consist of ‘a weekly therapy session worth £63 for a period of at least one year, totalling £3,000, to be deposited in the plaintiff’s bank account’.
Judge Renata Martins de Carvalho said the ‘granting of urgent relief is a reasonable and proportionate measure to ensure that the stressful and traumatic event is overcome’.
Metro.co.uk has contacted Qatar Airways for comment.
In a statement given to the Mail, a spokesperson said the airline ‘treats all passengers with respect and dignity and in line with industry practices and similar to most airlines, anyone who impedes upon the space of a fellow traveller and cannot secure their seatbelt or lower their armrests may be required to purchase an additional seat both as a safety precaution and for the comfort and safety of all passengers’.
They added: ‘The passenger in question at Beirut Airport was initially extremely rude and aggressive to check-in staff when one of her travelling party did not produce required PCR documentation for entry to Brazil.
‘As a result, airport security was requested to intervene as staff and passengers were extremely concerned with her behaviour.’
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