Woman forced to hold back tears after EasyJet flight attendant makes ‘insensitive’ comment about seating

A passenger has claimed she was almost brought to tears by a flight attendant, after attempting to swap seats with her husband.

Posting on TikTok, Joe Bartholomew, explained that she was flying from Greece to the UK on 17 August, when an EasyJet employee approached her for moving seats.

Joe said she and her husband chose to swap seats after everyone else on the flight was seated.

A male flight attendant glared at Joe, before saying: “Madame, no this is an emergency seat. People who need extensions can’t sit there.”

Humiliated, she replied: “Oh that’s great, thanks for that information, I don’t need one.”

Joe explained that she continuted to sit in the seat she wanted.

She said: “I just about held my s*** together for two and a half hours. I’ve had to write down in my phone, in my notes, what was going on in my head because I was so upset.

“I do not know how I didn’t burst into tears.

“I reckon four rows of people on both sides of the plane heard it, turned around and looked at me.

“I’m like “yes it’s me, I am fat. Thank you very f****** much”. That’s what I thought in my head.”

Joe accused the flight attendant of lacking “sensitivity” and making judgements.

She explained that she hadn’t asked for an extension, while claiming that she knows how “awful” it is to need one because her sister used to use one.

“I am fat, I’m obese, morbidly, whatever you want to call it, and I am too big, I am aware, there was a good four inches left on my seatbelt, so there was loads of space left” she stressed.

Joe revealed that she approached the flight attendant later on in the journey when he was on his own, telling him that how he spoke to her was “really inappropriate.”

Joe said: “Look, if you need an extension I would ask for one, and when I do you could have discreetly said in my ear, “I’m sorry Madam, these are those seats..””

Joe was advised by a pilot for British Airways to tag easyJet in a social media post to ensure that other people don’t have to have the same experience.

The post has been flooded with comments and over 2000 likes as people offer Joe their support.

One person wrote: “PEOPLE WHO NEED AN EXTENSION- REMEMBER There is no shame in asking for an extension seatbelt!”

Another said: “As a flight attendant myself this pains me. It’s easy to be discreet about things. No need for him to be like that. Sorry you went through that x”

A third argued: “I feel you but it’s also insensitive to mimick foreign accents like that. Ppl like me, foreigners are constantly ridiculed for our accents. not ok.”

“When speaking about sensitivity best not to mock someone accent,” a fourth added.

According to The Sun, EasyJet responded to Joe’s claims on TikTok, saying: “The Safety of our customers is our crew’s highest priority and while it is important that all customers in an emergency exit row are informed of the safety restrictions in place for these seats, we are very sorry that Ms Bartholemew felt this wasn’t communicated sensitively.

“We have been in touch with her to apologise for her experience and thank her for her feedback, which we are looking into with our team to apply these learnings and ensure our customers always receive the warm welcome they have come to expect when they fly with us.”