Tense Moments Aft of Datum

Qatar Airways—the state-owned flag carrier of the Middle Eastern peninsular nation of Qatar—has been ordered to pay for plus-size model Juliana Nehme’s psychotherapy after she was allegedly barred from boarding one of the air-carrier’s flights because she was ostensibly too plus-sized for her economy-class seat.

A spokesperson for Qatar Airways—the excellent passenger accommodations and amenities of which are highly regarded among discerning air-travelers—set forth that Ms. Nehme wanted for comportment, categorizing the Brazilian model’s behavior as "extremely rude and aggressive."

Nehme, for her own part, maintains she suffered humiliation attempting to board a November 2022 Qatar Airways flight from Beirut, Lebanon to the Qatari capital city of Doha. In a social media diatribe to her Instagram followers, Nehme stated she was prevailed upon to pay three-thousand-dollars for a first-class seat aboard the flight, and was refused a refund for the $947 she’d paid to travel economy-class.

In a ruling that speaks to fatuity’s triumph over reason, a Sao Paulo court has ordered Qatar Airways to ante-up for psychotherapy treatments by which the schism between reality and Nehme’s perceptions of such may be further widened.

Judge Renata Martins de Carvalho ruled Nehme’s treatment ought consist of a "weekly therapy session" costing approximately four-hundred Brazilian reals (about $77) for at least one year—totaling 19,200 reals or $3,700.

The judge apocryphally called her order a "...reasonable and proportionate measure to ensure that the stressful and traumatic event is overcome," by the model and social media influencer.

Speaking to Brazilian media, Nehme puled: "It was like I wasn't a human being to them. I was a fat monster that couldn't get on board. It was horrible. I'd never imagined going through something like this, ever."

Court documents showed Nehme had been permitted to board the flight and occupy her economy seat after an official from the Brazilian embassy in Brussels contacted Qatar Airways.

Responding to the incident, a Qatar Airways spokesperson explained that all passengers—even luminaries the likes of social media influencers—could be required to make accommodations to their air-travel arrangements if they could not fit into the seats they’d purchased. The spokesperson went on to champion the rights of all air-travelers, stating: "Qatar Airways treats all passengers with respect and dignity and in line with industry practices and similar to most airlines, anyone who impedes upon the space of a fellow traveler and cannot secure their seatbelt or lower their armrests may be required to purchase an additional seat both as a safety precaution and for the comfort and safety of all passengers."

For purpose of sighting Ms. Nehme’s complaint against a backdrop of objectivity, the size of Qatar Airways’ economy class seats must be taken into consideration. Subject seats—in keeping with the airline’s reputation for poshness—measure 18.5-inches in width and are spaced at a 32-inch pitch. Throughout the airline industry, economy seat widths of 17-inches and pitches of a suffocating 28-inches are not uncommon.

FMI: www.qatarairways.com