Tess Holliday Says Flight Attendant Told Her to “Lose Weight”

Plus-size model and body-positivity advocate Tess Holliday says she experienced allegedly unsolicited fat-shaming from a United Airlines flight attendant during a recent first-class flight with her 9-year-old son.

The incident, she said, left her “frozen” and stunned.

What Holliday Says Happened

Holliday shared that she inadvertently bumped the flight attendant call button with her hip while in the airplane restroom. When she emerged, the attendant allegedly began giving her weight advice. He referenced his own sister, described as “very, very large, probably [Holliday’s] size,” saying she had been discriminated against on a flight and needed to lose weight.

Over a roughly ten-minute period, Holliday says the attendant continued lecturing her on long-term health and implied that caring for her child meant she should take weight loss seriously. Feeling uncomfortable but unwilling to make a scene in front of her son, she said she remained silent until another passenger approached.

Holliday recounted the exchange in a TikTok video and later told People she reached out to United Airlines. She says the airline apologized for the experience and passed along the message to “the team member,” but she explicitly asked only for sensitivity training, not disciplinary action, saying she didn’t want him to lose his job.

Why It’s Gaining Attention

This claim has struck a chord because it touches on issues of body policing, public harassment, and the emotional labor women in larger bodies often endure. As a prominent figure in body-positivity circles, Holliday’s story amplifies others’ experiences of unsolicited commentary on bodies, especially in vulnerable settings like air travel.

It also raises questions about training and professionalism in customer service roles. If the claims are accurate, it suggests gaps in understanding how to interact appropriately, especially in contexts involving sensitive topics like weight.

For airlines, the episode is a PR moment with possible policy implications: how do you ensure staff don’t cross boundaries when interacting with passengers? Should sensitivity and anti-bias training be mandatory for all customer-facing roles?

What to Watch Going Forward

• Whether United Airlines will issue a more detailed public response, adjust policies, or follow through on sensitivity training.
• If Holliday or others come forward with similar stories, potentially prompt wider scrutiny of airline staff behavior.
• How this incident might influence discussions around body shaming, especially in paid or service contexts where power dynamics are present.
• Whether this becomes a case study in corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion training for the travel and hospitality industries.

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