'Plus size travel' activist calls out Seattle airport staff for making her walk up jet bridge, refusing to push wheelchair

Following a trip to Seattle, prominent "plus size travel" activist and self-described "proud fat girl" Jae'lynn Cheney claimed that her request to access a wheelchair service was ignored, and that she had been instead forced to walk up part of the jet bridge between the plane and the terminal.

In a TikTok video, Cheney alleged that when she deplaned, an employee was waiting, but upon realizing that she'd be pushing her, "started to walk away with the wheelchair while making comments about my size."

"My ordeal at SeaTac Airport will shock you," Cheney began, calling her experience "yet another example of why employee sensitivity training ... is desperately needed."

"Even when I told her I really needed the chair and needed her to let me sit down in it she blatantly ignored me and kept walking," Cheney continued. "I was then forced to walk up one of the longest jet bridges I've encountered."

Cheney eventually caught up to the employee and was allowed to sit down in the wheelchair, but by that time, she claimed, "my lips were white, my oxygen levels had dropped, and I almost fainted."

"This woman just assumed I could walk and would rather me do that instead of her having to push someone my size up the jet bridge," she claimed. "All the other attendants wheeled their passengers up the jet bridge but my needs were disregarded."

Cheney said the employee's actions amounted to "discrimination," and chalked it up to her size. Many of the commenters on her TikTok video, however, defended the employee.

"Could be the person wasn't physically able to push her," one user wrote. "I am certain that wasn’t in the job description. Level surface or down hill I could do it but I don’t know if it be able to up an incline."

"Are you able to have a nurse assist you?" another asked. "Maybe the the lady wasn't physically able to push you." Others were more direct, with one user telling Cheney, "You're able to walk, just stop and take breaks along the way. Walking is better for you."