Thai Airways tells three New Zealand women they are too big to fly business class

Three women were refused boarding after Thai Airways deemed them too big to fit in their seats.

A mother and her two daughters were reportedly denied boarding after Thai Airways staff told them they were too large to fly in business class.

Huhana Iripa, 59, and her daughters Renell, 28, and Tere, 37, were waiting to board a flight from Bangkok to Auckland when they were approached by an airline representative.

According to reports, Thai Airways staff measured the waistline of one of the daughters with a tape measure and concluded she would not fit in the seat belt.

The trio were given the option to either not fly at all or get bumped down to economy class for the 11-hour overnight flight.

They chose the latter.

Iripa said she was left “humiliated” after the incident.

“I’ve never felt discriminated against before because of my size, so this experience left me completely in shock,” she said.

The trio claims they were not told about waist size restrictions when booking the tickets and had no problem when flying the other way, from Auckland.

Thai Airways compensated them $300 NZD.

A spokesman for the airline told the NZ Herald the airline could not “compromise” customer’s safety.

The travel agency they booked with offered a full refund.