World4 min(s) read
Published 16:58 21 Dec 2022 GMT
A court has ordered an airline to pay for a Brazilian plus-sized model's therapy after she claims she was stopped from boarding because of her weight.
Influencer Juliana Nehme - who boasts 167K followers on social media - claimed that she was discriminated against her due to her size by Qatar Airways.
According to the Daily Mail, the 38-year-old said at the time: "They are denying my right to travel... I'm desperate, help me, they don't want me to board because I'm fat."
The outlet has now reported that this week, Judge Renata Martins de Carvalho ruled that the middle eastern airline must pay for psychiatric or psychological treatment for the content creator.
Check out her previous post below:Previously, Nehme explained the incident (translated from Portuguese to English) on Instagram and said: "They are denying my right to travel... I'm desperate, help me, they don't want me to board because I'm fat."
She claimed that the airline had asked her to pay for a business class seat for the journey - which she couldn't afford - but says she had had no issue with a regular seat on the outward journey with Air France.
At the time of reporting, the influencer ended up staying in Lebanon with her mother - where she was unable to fly back from - while her sister and nephew both returned home.
"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!" she told her followers. "I'm here at the Qatar Airways desk, with tickets I bought to go to Doha and from Doha to Brazil.
"With no reason, the stewardess from Qatar said I cannot board because I am too fat, and according to her, I have no right to have this plane ticket," Nehme said.
As reported by the publication, Nehme is now entitled to treatment paid for by the airline that consists "of a weekly therapy session worth BRL 400 ($79) for at least one year, totaling BRL 19,200 ($3,698), to be deposited in the plaintiff's bank account".
Judge Carvalho said the "granting of urgent relief is a reasonable and proportionate measure to ensure that the stressful and traumatic event is overcome" by Nehme.
The influencer's lawyer, Eduardo Barbosa, also described the ruling as "a milestone in the fight against prejudice," while Nehme spoke of the distress that she experienced.
"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," she told Brazilian media, cited the outlet.
"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," she continued. "I said, 'Mum, forgive me, because me being like this stopped you from going home,' and she said it wasn't my fault."
After the debacle, Nehme and her mother were eventually able to get back to Brazil on another flight without having to pay extra money after speaking to the Brazilian ambassador.
The ambassador told them on the phone that he had spoken with the president of Qatar Airways, so she took a flight that same day and arrived in Brazil on November 25.
A spokesperson for the airline spoke with Insider about the incident and said that Nehme became "extremely rude and aggressive" to staff when another person in her party didn't present the Covid documentation required to enter her home country.
However, the representative also revealed that passengers could be requested to buy an extra seat if they could not fit adequately into one.
They said in a statement: "Qatar Airways 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 traveler 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.
"The passenger in question at Beirut Airport was initially extremely rude and aggressive to check-in staff when one of her traveling 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 behavior," they added.
