A woman's Facebook video has gone viral on social media this week, which shows a fellow passenger ranting angrily at her because of her weight, while on a flight from Las Vegas to New Jersey.
The footage, which was filmed by nursing leader Norma Rodgers, shows an unidentified blonde woman going into a fat-phobic meltdown, subjecting the two people she was sitting between to a foul-mouthed and loud verbal tirade on the United Airlines flight.
In the video, which quickly accrued over a million views and nearly 16,000 shares after Norma uploaded it to Facebook, the blonde woman can be seen stating:
"Oh my goodness, I don’t know how I’m going to do this for the next four hours. This is just impossible cause they’re squishing me. Like, just unbelievable. At least they’ll keep me warm. I can’t sit here because they’re both so big on left and right. I can’t even sit here."
Meanwhile, an irate Norma can later be heard asking for a flight attendant to move her elsewhere, stating: "Excuse me, can you find her another seat? Because I will not be verbally abused by this b*tch or anybody else. I will not be verbally abused by anybody. I’m not tolerating it. I am not starting my new year off with this kind of negativity."
Another passenger offered to trade places with the blonde woman, but she continued to harangue them, even calling Norma and the other passenger "pigs."
On Facebook, the public's reaction to the clip has been divided. Some are on Norma's side, while others agree that it is unfair for someone to be sandwiched between two obese people. For example, one person commented:
"If a passenger can not fit into the 17-inch ? the heavyweight passenger cannot fly in economy. They need to upgrade or buy two tickets. It’s the airline's fault for allowing them to be seated in economy when they can visibly see they will spill over into another ?. But the woman was rude and the flight attendant did nothing about the problem so it escalated. No, I lay blame on the airlines from the start."
Meanwhile, others were more supportive of Norma, with another commenter writing:
"It’s the airline the seats are impossible. There is never an excuse for the blonde’s obnoxiousness towards the others. Just ask to be moved and shut up," and someone else adding: "Next time she should cough up the extra money and put her ass in first class. She ain't even skinny herself."
Thus far, United Airlines has not responded to the video. However, this isn't the first time that a viral video has ended up giving the airline bad press. Back in 2017, United faced severe criticism after a clip emerged of passenger David Dao was violently removed from a flight due to overbooking.
