British Airways deemed a man too fat to fly. Kevin Chenais, 22, and his family flew to the United States to receive medical treatment for a year and a half. The treatment for Kevin's hormone disorder caused him to gain weight, leaving him at 500 pounds.
The family was due to fly home to France with British Airways, the airline that brought them to the U.S. However due to Kevin's weight, the airline wouldn't let him fly, CNN reports. Now the family is stranded in Chicago.
"We blame British Airways because now they just leave us, and they brought us here," Christina Chenais told CBS. "If they could bring him here with that problem in economy, there was a way to take him back by economy but just get him back home for his medical treatments to continue."
The family spent a week in an airport hotel while trying to get the issue solved. However they started running out of money and came to the conclusion that the family will have to take a train to New York and get their son back to France on the Queen Mary 2 Cruise Ship.
Kevin Chenais requires round-the-clock oxygen and medical attention due to his condition. "I'm sure a lot of big people like me or bigger cannot travel because they have the same problem," he told CBS. "This time before leaving I knew something would go wrong."
British Airways claims there is nothing they can do.
"The British Airways team worked tirelessly to try and find a solution for the family but unfortunately we cannot safely accommodate the customer on any of our aircraft," British Airways said in a statement according to CNN. "We were in regular contact with the family to discuss other options and we provided hotel accommodation throughout," the airline said. The customer service team "exhausted all options. We'll always try to accommodate a customer if it's at all possible and it's safe to do so."
British Airways claims it offered the family full refund. Usually when passengers are overweight, an airline would require the passenger to buy a second seat. It is not clear why that couldn't happen in this situation.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
