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Couple says they were nearly booted from Spirit flight over eczema.
A San Francisco woman claims she was almost kicked off her Spirit flight after airline staff mistook her eczema for monkeypox.
The encounter allegedly began when Jacqueline Nguyen, who said she was with her wife, was challenged by a Spirit Airlines worker once already on the plane over her skin condition.
In a caption for the now-viral clip, the TikToker wrote, “misinformation leads to discrimination/hostility. everyone with a non-contagious skin condition has been anticipating this #monkeypox#eczema.”
After being escorted off the plane, Nguyen said that Spirit staff asked her to provide medical documents and that they were only able to board again after she presented a tube of prescribed eczema cream.
“They had me get off the plane in front of everyone along with my wife to interrogate me about the eczema i’ve had my whole life,” she wrote over the 8-second clip of her in clear distress over the situation.
“They asked me to provide medical documents and told my wife to watch her attitude. I’ve never been so humiliated in my life.”
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Nguyen was eventually allowed back on the plane with her wife.
In a pinned comment, Nguyen tagged Spirit Airlines and wrote, “Spirit Airlines maybe teach your employees what monkeypox looks like before you catch hundreds of medical discrimination cases.”
@redm3at misinformation leads to discrimnation/hostility. everyone with a visible non-contagious skin condition has been anticipating this #monkeypox#eczema ♬ i’m Peppa Pig – funny
Several users responded on the TikTok post with their own instances of discrimination based on skin conditions.
“As an adult with cystic acne I have been scared, I’ve been trying so hard to cover up out of fear. Sorry this had to happen to you :(,” one user wrote.
“People used to bully me thinking my eczema was contagious and I’m terrified it’s gonna happen again,” another commented.
“I am waiting on this to happen to me,” a third said. “I have eczema as well and the sun actually makes me break out.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines monkeypox as “a rare disease [that] is part of the same family of viruses as variola virus, the virus that causes smallpox.
“Monkeypox symptoms are similar to smallpox symptoms, but milder, and monkeypox is rarely fatal. Monkeypox is not related to chickenpox.”
The US has recorded more than 7,000 cases of probable or confirmed monkeypox since a global outbreak of the disease began in May, mostly among gay and bisexual men, the Associated Press reported last week.
