'Too fat to fly' passenger sues airline

  * A PASSENGER who was told she was "too fat to fly" has announced is suing the airline that told her she would have to buy a second seat.

Kenlie Tiggeman, from the US, said Southwest Airlines’ controversial "Customers of Size" policy is discriminatory towards the obese and claims the airline ignored her “constitutional rights”.

She’s not after a payout but wants an industry-wide standard to be put in place.

“'We need to know if we need one seat or two, because this eyeballing happening at the gate is incredibly discriminatory, and it's so unnecessary,” she said.

Ms Tiggeman and her mum Joan Charpentier were waiting during a stopover at Dallas Airport last year when she claims they were singled out by a Southwest Airlines employee because of their weight.

"I asked him what the weight restrictions were and he said that he didn't know, just that we were too heavy to fly,” Ms Tiggeman told MSNBC. “Too fat to fly."

She said that she was humiliated by the incident, which developed into a 45-minute confrontation over the airline's weight restrictions in front of other passengers.

The women say during the public stoush with the Southwest employee he even told them they could board the plane but only if they sat next to a third overweight person in a row.

Ms Tiggeman claims she can fit comfortably into airline seats.

A supervisor eventually intervened and they were able to board their flight without any special conditions. They also received flight vouchers and an apology, which Ms Tiggeman has recorded on her blog.

Southwest has already taken flack over the policy with high-profile and sizeable film director Kevin Smith also told he was too fat to fly.