A woman was kicked off a United Airlines flight after fat shaming the two people who were sitting beside her calling them “2 big pigs”.
The United flight was getting ready to depart from Las Vegas to Newark when a woman is overheard on her mobile phone saying “Oh my goodness! I don’t know how I’m going to do this for the next four hours!”
She was referring to her assigned middle seat between two passengers she felt were encroaching on her personal space.
She went on to say “This is just impossible ’cause they’re squishing me. Like, just unbelievable.” “At least they’ll keep me warm. I can’t sit here because they’re both so big on left and right. I can’t even sit here.”
A nurse from New Jersey, Norma Rodgers caught the tirade on video and even confronted the fat shaming woman. “Bitch please?” Rodgers stated. The irate woman lashed back saying “I can't do this, I eat salad!”
Woman Kicked Off United Flight For Fat Shaming
Finally the nurse couldn't take it anymore and asked for help from the flight crew.
“I will not be verbally abused by anybody. I’m not tolerating it. I am not starting my new year off with this kind of negativity.” said Rodgers.
Another passenger then chimed in “You should be ashamed of yourself, madam. What you’re doing is so terrible, you should be ashamed of yourself,”
The angry woman than replied “I’m not politically correct? Why don’t you try and sit between those two big pigs?”
The crew then intervened and decided that it would be best to find the traveler an alternative flight. The passengers behavior could have caused a disruption during the flight so the angry woman was switched to a different flight the next morning.
The video that was originally posted to Facebook by Rodgers quickly went viral accumulating over 2.5 million views before being taken down.
United Obesity Policy
United airlines has a policy in place for overweight passengers. Passengers must be able to sit in the seat with their seat-belt fastened (Extensions are available). The arm rests must fold down and passengers can't significantly encroach on the adjacent seat. In the case where passengers are taking up more than one seat, a second seat must be purchased.
Source: New York Post