Disfigured California nurse says Southwest kicked her off flight for appallingly cruel reason

A disfigured nurse says Southwest Airlines kicked her off a flight because of non-cancerous tumors that grow on her face and body.

Briana Solari was booted off a flight from Burbank-Hollywood Airport in LA to her home in Sacramento shortly after surgery to reduce the growths Thursday evening, which left her with visible scarring.

Solari, whose tumors are caused by condition called neurofibromatosis (NF) that causes them to grow over nerve-endings, told KCRA that a Southwest flight attendant strutted up to her after she’d boarded and asked her to come back to the gate. 

‘I exited the airplane, and they said, “Well, there’s been some concerns. Do you have any, you know, any medical conditions, diseases?” And I said, “No, I had surgery.”

‘That’s really none of their business what’s going on, but I said, “No, I had surgery,” and they said, “Okay,” so then he got on the telephone with somebody.’

Solari says the flight attendant called a Southwest-contracted doctor who she’d never been examined by.

Southwest staff refused to let her speak to the medic to try and explain her condition, Solari said.  

The drama caused the nurse to miss her flight home and left her feeling deeply upset about a health condition which sees people make unkind remarks.

She said: ‘Humiliated, embarrassed, ashamed? 

Solari says living with her condition, called neurofibromatosis, is distressing – and that the behavior of Southwest staff caused her further anguish 

The nurse has been given a total of $545 in vouchers from Southwest – but never wants to fly the airline again and is now planning to sue 

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‘It’s already hard enough. It’s already difficult enough with this condition because I did have some visible tumors on my face and my arms, and people would comment.

‘It’s really hard to quantify what it’s like to be singled out for a medical condition, for how you look. Something that I really can’t help. And I did try to cover up as best I could.’   

Solari was eventually able to fly home with Southwest on a later flight after being forced to obtain a letter from her surgeon confirming that her condition was not contagious. 

Southwest gave Solari a $500 flight voucher and $45 meal voucher.

But she was so disgusted by the experience that she has vowed never to set foot on one of their planes again – and plans to sue too.

Solari said: ‘I don’t think I’ll ever fly them again. I think this could have been handled much more professionally. 

‘They should have waited until they had all of the information before making a decision that ultimately impacted my day, my flight, my traveling, and my overall perspective on Southwest has changed

‘This is absolutely discrimination! Violating my medical privacy. 

‘They don’t have to know I just said I had surgery, and that should be it. They shouldn’t be prying into my private medical information.’

A Southwest spokesman told DailyMail.com: ‘We are disheartened to learn of the Customer’s experience flying with and extend our deepest apologies for the inconvenience. 

‘Even though our Team ultimately received clearance for the Customer to travel, we weren’t able to do so in time for the flight’s departure. 

‘We rebooked her on a later flight, offered a travel voucher for a future flight along with a meal voucher, and we’re following up with her directly to discuss the situation.