A weight loss blogger from New York City and her mother received an apology and $200 vouchers from Southwest Airlines after being told they were “too big to fly,” but not before they were singled out and humiliated by an employee in the terminal.
Kenlie Tiggeman, a once 400-pound political strategist who has been blogging about her weight loss journey – she’s lost 120 pounds so far -- wrote on her blog “All the Weigh” that she can sit in any seat on the plane with the armrests down and can use the seat tray table comfortably.
Still, Tiggeman explained on her blog the Southwest employee told her and her mother that they were too heavy to board the flight – even though it was a return trip and they had not been stopped and told their weight was at issue on the way there.
When Tiggeman asked the employee what the weight restrictions were, he could’t give a specific answer and merely explained she and her mother were “too big to fly without an additional ticket,” she wrote on her blog.
“I know that I have a lot of weight to lose but I am definitely not too fat to fly,” Tiggeman wrote. “I do it all the time, domestically and internationally, and I have never had anyone approach me and particularly in the way they did.”
Ultimately, Tiggeman and her mother were permitted to board the plane. Southwest workers offered them $200 credits each to use on a future flight and Cokes to quench their thirst.
Tiggeman told them to keep the soda.
“Look Southwest Airlines … I don’t drink sodas – diet or otherwise. And by the way, I’ve lost over 114 pounds, which helps me fit into your stupid airplane seats, so no thanks,” she wrote on her blog.
