A nurse said she was “embarrassed and ashamed” after being questioned about her rare condition before a flight and then thrown off the plane.
Brianna Solari claimed she was “humiliated” by flight crew who questioned her about her rare skin disease.
Brianna explained that at that time she had boarded a plane to LA to have benign tumors on her skin removed, which went well.
That was until she was on a return flight with Southwest Airlines and, according to her, a flight attendant approached her and asked her about her skin.
Because she had just had surgery, her skin was inflamed.
She was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis, which means tumors are growing along her nerves.
Brianna Solari suffers from a rare skin disease that causes benign tumors to grow on her body. (YouTube/ KCRA 3)
She told KCRA-TV that the flight crew of Flight 3471 then kicked her off the plane, saying that “concerns” had been raised about her skin.
In her opinion, they thought she had chickenpox, which is highly contagious.
Not the type of person to give out her personal information to strangers, Brianna simply said she had just undergone surgery (which was true).
However, this was not enough for the staff and they informed her that she would need to get clearance to fly from a Southwest Airlines doctor.
But when they called the doctor, their request to speak to him was denied, she claims.
She said: “This is absolute discrimination! A violation of my medical privacy.”
“You don’t need to know. I just said I had surgery and that should have been it.”
“You shouldn’t be snooping around in my private medical information.
She added: “I said, ‘Let me talk to the doctor.’ I was not examined by that doctor.”
She spoke about her condition as follows: “I lack an enzyme called neurofibromin, which is a tumor suppressor.
“So tumors grow along nerves and can be tiny, pinpoint tumors, but also huge. Some of them can be very disfiguring.”
After the ordeal on the flight, Brianna said she was “humiliated, embarrassed and ashamed.”
Afterwards, she even had to get a letter from her surgeon so that she could fly.
Fortunately, the airport staff accepted her letter and soon she was on the next flight to Sacramento, but she can’t let it go.
She said: “It’s difficult enough with this disease because I had some visible tumors on my face and arms and people were making comments about it.”
As compensation, she said, the airport gave her a flight voucher worth $500 and a meal voucher worth $45.
But she wants to sue.
She stated that she was discriminated against by the flight crew. (YouTube/ KCRA 3)
She justified her decision by saying that the airline “could have acted much more professionally.”
The nurse told the television station: “They should have waited until they had all the information before making a decision that ultimately affected my day, my flight and my trip.”
Southwest Airlines said in its response to the New York Post: “We are devastated by the experience of the customer who flew with us from Hollywood Burbank Airport and would like to sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.”
“Although our team ultimately received travel clearance for the customer, we were unable to obtain it in time for departure.
“We have rebooked her on a later flight, offered her a travel voucher for a later flight and a meal voucher and are contacting her directly to discuss the situation.”
LADbible has contacted Southwest Airlines for comment.
