A California woman claims she was humiliated by Southwest Airlines staff after being kicked off a flight because of a skin condition.
Brianna Solari, a nurse from Roseville, California, a small city just 20 miles northeast of Sacramento, was trying to fly home after getting surgery in Los Angeles to treat a condition that causes tumors to spring up across her body. At the Hollywood Burbank Airport, Solari attempted to board her Southwest flight, but a crewmember confronted her, she said, and asked her to step off the plane.
The crewmember told her, according to KCRA, that "there had been some concerns" about her being on the flight amid her condition. Solari has neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes non-cancerous, "disfiguring" tumors to spring up in her nervous system and across the skin on her body.
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"I lack an enzyme, which is neurofibromin, which is a tumor suppressor," she told the local outlet. "So, tumors grow along nerves that can be tiny, little pinpoint tumors, or they can be enormous. Some of them can be very disfiguring."
The crewmember reportedly asked Solari if she has any medical conditions or diseases, to which she replied that she doesn't but that she had just had surgery. "That's none of their business what's going on," she said. "But I said, 'No, I had surgery.' And they said, 'OK.'"
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Right after that, she said the crewmember got on the phone and called someone, who she later found out was a doctor under contract with the airline. Solari said she requested to speak with the doctor about her condition, but the employee refused to let her do so.
She said she felt uncomfortable, as she hadn't been examined by that physician. Throughout the ordeal, she experienced a range of emotions — humiliation, embarrassment and even shame. "It's already hard enough. It's already difficult enough with this condition because I did have some visible tumors on my face and my arms, and people would comment."
The ordeal, which took place on Thursday, caused Solari to miss her original flight. She had to get a note from her surgeon clearing her to fly and showed it to employees at the airport.
Southwest then booked her on a new flight back to Sacramento, but the damage was done — Solari said she won't ever fly with the airline again after what happened, stating that she believes employees could have handled the situation much more professionally.
"They should have waited until they had all the information before making a decision that ultimately impacted my day, my flight, my traveling and my overall perspective on Southwest," she said.
In a statement obtained by the New York Post , a Southwest spokesperson said, "We are disheartened to learn of the Customer's experience flying with us and extend our deepest apologies for the inconvenience."
The airline added, "Even though our team ultimately received clearance for the customer to travel, we weren’t able to do so in time for the flight’s departure. We rebooked her on a later flight, offered a travel voucher for a future flight along with a meal voucher, and we’re following up with her directly to discuss the situation."
The flight voucher was worth $500, Solari said, and the meal voucher was worth $45. But she doesn't believe it's enough. She told KCRA that she's pursuing legal action against the airline for what she called "discrimination."
"This is absolutely discrimination, violating my medical privacy. They don't have to know I just had surgery, and that should be it. They shouldn't be prying into my private medical information."
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