A woman accusing Spirit Airlines of kicking her off a plane because it wrongly thought she had mpox is taking the airline to court

18.08.2023 - 15:01 / insider.com / Monica Humphries / Airlines

A woman who said she was escorted off a plane after a Spirit Airlines flight attendant confused her eczema for mpox is suing the airline, alleging anti-gay discrimination, according to a new lawsuit.

According to a civil complaint filed on Wednesday at the Los Angeles Superior Court, Jacqueline Nguyen and her wife checked into a Spirit Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Dallas last August.

But after all of the passengers were seated, a woman in a Spirit Airlines uniform approached Nguyen and her wife and asked them to get off the plane, according to the complaint.

Nguyen was "very confused" by the request, and once she reached the jet bridge she asked staff what was going on, it said.

A Spirit Airlines employee, who is not identified by name in the lawsuit, asked about the "rash" on Nguyen's face, the complaint said, with Nguyen explaining that it was eczema and was not contagious.

But according to the complaint, Spirit Airlines staff expressed concern that Nguyen had been infected with the mpox virus..

Mpox is a viral infection that is primarily spread by skin-to-skin contact. Though mpox can be spread through close contact, including sex, it is not considered a sexually transmitted disease.

Anybody, regardless of sexual orientation, can spread mpox, though early reporting on the disease focused on the high number of cases amongst gay and bisexual men.

"This assumption demonstrated that Spirit Airlines was stereotyping Ms. Nguyen, as they seemed to believe that gay people are more vulnerable to carrying the disease," the complaint said.

According to the complaint, Nguyen and her wife were asked to provide medical documentation to prove that she had eczema. Nguyen presented a tube of eczema cream and was allowed to reboard the flight, which had been delayed by the interaction.

"On the flight, Ms. Nguyen hid her face because of how humiliating and shameful the whole ordeal was to her," the complaint said.

Nguyen told Insider's Monica Humphries in August 2022 that she remembered thinking, "Oh, my god, everybody here thinks that I'm diseased."

Nguyen's lawsuit accuses Spirit Airlines of intentional infliction of emotional distress and sexual orientation discrimination.

It's seeking an unspecified amount of damages, as well as an injunction preventing Spirit Airlines from requiring non-heterosexual passengers to prove they are traveling without sexually transmitted diseases.

"Defendants did not require any of the other heterosexual patrons present to prove that they were not flying with sexually transmitted diseases before being allowed to fly," it said.

The airline did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.