A plus-sized model has gone viral on social media after she posted a video criticizing Delta Airlines for her not being able to fit into their seatbelts.
Posted to her one million TikTok followers, the video from plus-sized model Remi Bader asked Delta to “figure it out” as she struggled to strap herself into the company’s designated seatbelts.
“And no I shouldn’t need to ask for an extender. It should just be easy! @delta,” she captioned.
Fans of Remi Bader immediately came to her defense, saying that she should not have to ask for an extender.
“Eeek. Everyone praises delta too. Being a size 14 should not warrant an extension,” said one user.
“YES WHY IS ASKING FOR AN EXTENDER EVEN A THING JUST MAKE THE BELTS MORE ACCOMMODATING,” said another.
The travel review site the Points Guy claims that Delta seatbelts normally range between 40 to 45 inches.
“That’s shorter than American Airlines’ and JetBlue’s belts, which measure from 45 to 47 inches and 45 inches, respectively, but still longer than Southwest’s belt, which clocks in at just 39 inches,” the New York Post noted.
In another TikTok video posted in October, Bader claimed that Delta Airline seatbelts are now shorter than they were before and that she felt embarrassed when a flight attendant advised she get an extender.
“Just make longer seatbelts, why is this an issue?” she said in the video.
Bader’s struggle recalls that of Jana Schmiedling of the Woman of Size podcast, who lamented in a 2018 op-ed about being denied entry onto the Hogwarts ride at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter because her size did not meet safety standards.
“In this case, rather than turning people away daily from an incredible Hogwarts moment, Universal Studios could have simply designed and built a ride from the start that welcomed a diverse range of body sizes, especially as more and more Americans identify as fat or plus size,” she wrote.