An “utterly humiliated” family from Auckland were booted from Thai Airlines business class because of their size — and the airline doesn’t deny it.
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| THAI B747-4D7 HS-TGA (CN 32369) File Photo |
An Auckland woman and her two daughters were left traumatised after staff from Thai Airways said they were “too big” to sit in business class. Huhana Iripa, 59, and her daughters Renell, 28, and Tere, 37, were accosted with measuring tapes ahead of their Bangkok to Auckland flight, with crew stating seatbelts in the high-end section of the aircraft would not reach to fit around them. The two younger woman had been in Thailand for weight loss surgery and had each paid $2560 for the flights, including the business-class seats for the way back to ensure greater comfort, the New Zealand Herald reported. Ms Iripa said the experience was “horrific” and feels she and her family have been discriminated against because of their body shapes, which at the time ranged from a size 22-26.
“We were utterly humiliated in front of all the other passengers,” she said.
“We went up to business class check-in and the member of staff on the desk looked at us and said ‘sorry you can’t’. “The next thing, there were about five members of staff all around talking in their native language, shaking their heads and looking at us as if we’d committed a crime. “A staff member then came forward and started saying ‘no, you’re too big, you’re too big’. “She then pulled out a measuring tape and wrapped it around my daughter Renell, moving her arms outstretched, before trying to do the same to me and Tere. “At this point, I broke down in tears.
“Everyone was just standing staring at us. The whole thing was disgusting.”
The trio were moved to three economy seats. Social worker Ms Iripa had gone to Thailand to support her two daughters. She said their original economy seats to Bangkok with Thai Airways had gone smoothly, but their return flight home saw them refused the business-class seats they had paid for. “We had all been so excited to fly first class and hadn’t thought there would be any issues, as we’d never had them on flights before,” Ms Iripa said. “I’ve never felt discriminated against before because of my size, so this experience left me completely in shock.” After the ordeal, Ms Iripa and her daughters complained and were offered a meeting with two representatives from Thai Airways. The family asked for a full refund of their business-class seats, but were offered only the difference between the economy and business-class price which amounted to $1210. The airline apologised and offered $435 in compensation, but Ms Iripa and her daughters believed this wasn’t enough and requested the full balance of the tickets as recompense. “For their rudeness, their disrespect and the trauma of what they put us through, how could they identify that price as compensation?” she said.
After being contacted by the Herald, Flight Centre – the travel agency the family had booked through – offered a full refund of their tickets. Thai Airways made headlines in 2018 with stories about the airline banning “fat people”. It came after they disallowed those with waists bigger than 56 inches (142cm) to fly in their new Dreamliner 787-900 business-class seats – the aircraft type the Iripa family were travelling on.
Personally I think this is absolutely disgusting and I hope the family sue Thai Airways... Flight Centre should be congratulated for offering a full refund.. they didn't have to do this at all.
Full story sourced from here
https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/travel-stories/thai-airways-says-auckland-women-cant-fly-in-business-class-seats-because-of-weight/news-story/ca2596d4334ded67c4f1666ca8d417d1
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