‘Too fat to fly’: Angry plus-size model says she was barred from flying Qatar Airways to her native Brazil because she was too big for her seat

An angry plus-size model said she was barred from boarding a Qatar Airways flight to her native Brazil because she was too big for her seat.

Social media influencer Juliana Nehme (38) has now accused the Middle Eastern airline of discriminating against her because of her height.

In a message to her 118,000 Instagram followers, Juliana said she was not allowed to board her flight from Beirut to Doha on November 22.

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Social media influencer Juliana Nehme (pictured), 38, accused Qatar Airways of discriminating against her because of her height after she was denied boarding because of her size – even though she had a ticket. They told her to buy a first class ticket

She went on holiday to Lebanon with her family and arrived in the country via Air France without any problems, she told her followers.

But when she was denied boarding on her first return flight, she also missed her onward journey to Sao Paulo, where she lives.

Juliana said Qatar Airways did not offer to refund her the £830 she paid for her ticket. Instead, the influencer claimed, the airline told her to buy a first class ticket – with larger seats – for £2,480 so she could sit on the plane.

Juliana commented on social media, “They deny me the right to travel… I’m desperate to help me they don’t want me on board because I’m fat.”

The influencer ended up staying with her mother in Lebanon while her sister and cousin returned home.

She told her followers: “What a shame for a company like Qatar to allow this kind of discrimination against people! I’m fat, but I’m like everyone else!’

At the time of reporting, Juliana remained in Lebanon and was unable to return home.

Juliana Nehme (pictured left at the Qatar Airways check-in desk and right) was on holiday in Lebanon with her family and arrived in the country via Air France without any problems, she told her followers. But if she is denied boarding on her first return flight, she will also miss her onward journey to Sao Paulo, where she lives.

“I’m standing here at the Qatar Airways counter with tickets I bought to fly to Doha and from Doha to Brazil,” Nehme told her thousands of followers on Instagram in Portuguese.

“For no reason, the flight attendant from Qatar said I was stuck because I was too fat and she said I was not eligible for this plane ticket.

“I paid $1,000 for my plane ticket, almost 6,000 real (Brazilian currency). I am here with my mother, my sister and my cousin, a total of $4,000 worth of tickets for her only to refuse the tickets and not let me get on the plane to Doha because I am fat.

“Well, what should I do? They deny me the right to travel, but I came here with AirFrance and everything went well, I had no problem. And now they are refusing my ticket,” a visibly upset Nehme claimed. “They require me to buy an executive ticket to return to my own country, but I came here with an ordinary seat ticket.

“I’m desperate, they don’t want to come in because I’m fat. I need to buy a business card that costs $3000, I don’t have that money. I don’t know what to do, there are only 30 minutes left until the plane takes off. They say I have no right to get on a plane because I’m fat. I do not know what to do.’

MailOnline has reached out to Qatar Airways for comment.

Pictured: Influencer Juliana Nehme poses on vacation. Juliana said Qatar Airways did not offer to refund her the £830 she paid for her ticket. Instead, the influencer claimed, the airline told them to buy a first class ticket – with larger seats – for £2,480

Qatar Airways has been named the best airline in the world at the Skytrax World Airline Awards 2022 – a record seventh time.

As airlines try to cut costs as much as possible, tackling the sensitive issue of overweight passengers has been controversial.

Airlines are tasked with calculating the weight and balance of their aircraft to ensure that it remains within permissible limits for aircraft safety.

In the United States, it has been proposed that the country’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) should weigh some passengers before boarding.

In recent years, rising obesity rates in the US have meant that the standard figures used by the airline industry to calculate passenger weight are likely outdated and therefore unsafe to use.

At the time, it was said that weighing selected passengers at airports would provide a more accurate number of average passenger weights so that the number of available seats on flights could be adjusted accordingly.

Critics of such a move say it would open the floodgates to discriminatory practices.