H.B. man temporarily ordered off plane after complaint about his weight
A Huntington Beach man was nearly removed from a flight to John Wayne Airport after a passenger complained about his size.
Chris Shelley said he was in his assigned middle seat on an American Airlines plane awaiting departure from Dallas/Fort Worth to Orange County on Nov. 20 when a woman in the aisle seat next to him complained to airline staff about his weight. Employees approached Shelley and told him he needed to leave the plane immediately, he told the New York Daily News.
“I was humiliated. I was embarrassed. I felt disgusted, like I was treated like a criminal,” Shelley told the newspaper. “They insinuated there was some big, giant, ugly troll on the plane.”
Shelley, an engineer, said he flies frequently for his job and that he had not had an incident like that with American Airlines before.
He said he was allowed back on the plane after offering to switch seats with the woman.
American Airlines has apologized for the incident and said it has launched an investigation.
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