Taking a flight can be stressful for most people, but even at it's worst, you'd never expect to be kicked off of the plane. When Harriet Osbourne boarded her flight home to England, she expected a smooth flight, but her experience quickly went south. The reason why caused a lot of backlash...
Vacation Time
Back in the summer of 2019, 31-year-old Harriet Osborne left her London house and her two children to get a bit of me-time. The full-time makeup artist was going to go on a vacation with some close pals to get away from it all. She hoped for somewhere a bit sunnier, so the girls flew from London to the brighter coast of Spain. They expected to have an unforgettable vacation, but they had no idea just what was in store...
Learning to Relax
In her day to day life, Harriet dressed as mundane and normal as anyone else, but on vacation, she had other plans. The warm weather of Spain demanded that Harriet incorporate a bit more fun and flair into her wardrobe. Here, she wasn't a mother of two, she was a free and easy vacationer. After about a week of soaking in as much sun as possible, the girls were forced to acknowledge that their days in Spain were coming to a close...
Last Day of Freedom
Harriet was happy to have gone with her friends, but she was eager to get back home. She missed her two children and the other important people in her life. Though Málaga in Costa del Sol was certainly a pleasant break from her daily life, it was time to get back to reality. The girls decided to spend their last day on a shopping spree. She didn't expect to find anything too fancy, but one special selection blew her away...
The Perfect Shirt
At a store called El Corte Inglés, Harriet found a sheer blouse that seemed to be everything she could ever want. The only problem was the price tag. The shirt was way out of her budget, much too high to justify even a treat-yourself purchase. Harriet tried it on anyway, just to see what it would look like. That was a big mistake because she fell in love with it even more. After some prodding, she agreed to pay the steep price...
No Going Back
The women finished their spending spree and stopped for lunch before returning to the hotel to pack up. When they got back to the hotel, Harriet held up her new shirt and scowled. Why would she buy this? She would never be able to wear it in England, where it was cold and rainy all the time. She decided she would get one good wear out of it by not packing it in with the rest of her clothing. She would wear it on the plane ride home...
No Way
Harriet managed to pass through security without any problems. However, it was when she reached the gate of her flight that she knew something was going to be an issue. A stewardess stood at the doors, greeting the passengers as they boarded the flight. When Harriet approached the doors, the woman gasped. Nevertheless, she allowed her to board the plane. The strangeness didn't stop there though...
Ice Cold
Harriet dismissed the odd interaction and headed to her seat. Maybe the stewardess was just having a rough day. As she settled into her seat though, she noticed something else odd. The entire EasyJet staff was whispering and pointing in her direction. She started to feel afraid. What was going on? Would she still be able to go home and see her beloved children? The answer was on its way, as the stewardess started approaching her seat...
The Issue At Hand
Harriet held her breath as the woman approached her. She knelt down and whispered to Harriet so none of the other passengers heard. "You’re not coming on my plane like that," she said. "You need to put a top on." Harriet was shocked. She didn't perceive anything about her top as scandalous. She had even had it taped down on her chest just in case of a situation like this. The stewardess even tried to cover Harriet up herself...
Someone Speaks
Harriet was aghast. What happened? The stewardess told her that since she had boarded the plane less than five minutes ago, she had received an overwhelming number of complaints about the sheerness of her blouse. Harriet didn't believe her, and why would she? She had barely sat down before the woman came to speak with her. Nevertheless, she put on a sweatshirt and got on with the flight, but it wasn't over just yet...
Pick and Choose
Harriet didn't have a lot of options. It was either put on a sweater or find a new flight home. She wasn't going to put up a fight with those kinds of stakes, so she agreed and waited until sitting back down to make her point. Once a stewardess walked by, she couldn't hold her tongue and needed to have her voice be heard. She pulled the attendant aside and gave her a piece of her mind once and for all...
Gossiping Stewards
The stewardess was shocked by the outburst. She quickly returned to her coworkers to relay the exchange. It didn't take long for the woman to return to her once again but this time there were no options. Harriet had to get off the plane, and it had to be right now. She had nowhere to sleep and the next flight wouldn't be until morning. As the plane took off without her onboard, she bitterly searched for a way to survive the night...
Breaking Down
Harriet began to sob in the airport. Two Spanish police officers approached her. They relayed the information to her that she had been removed for causing a public disturbance. The police agreed with her that it had been a ridiculous exchange, but there was nothing they could do now. She would have to find lodging until the next day, but something like that is easier said than done...
Late Arrival
Harriet was heartbroken. She wanted to go home, to see her kids, and to sleep in her own bed. She made the call to their babysitter that she wouldn't be able to see them that night. Even worse, she didn't have the money to pay for another night of hotel lodging. Money was already tight, and this had made things so much worse. She ended up sleeping on the floor of the airport terminal, but she wasn't done with this fight...
Back In Action
Once back in her own home, Harriet started making calls. Any media outlet that would listen heard her story. She gave a slew of interviews detailing her terrible experience and horrible treatment from the EasyJet staff. It became a viral sensation overnight. People took sides with who they thought was in the right. Some applauded the stern stewards, others believed that Harriet was mistreated on the flight...
Not Sorry
EasyJet weighed in and adamantly restated their stance. They weren't backing down. "Following concerns about her clothing, the crew politely requested that the customer wear an additional top for the flight which the customer agreed to. However, she then proceeded to act disruptively towards a member of our crew.[...] We do not tolerate abusive or threatening behavior towards our staff," reported the airline in a statement...
Madelyn Scheaffer
Around the world, a woman named Madelyn Scheaffer had experienced a similar issue. Madelyn was dealing with the same mistreatment from a water park. The Odessa, Missouri native had a good job, great kids, and was living what some might call the American Dream. One day in 2005, something happened during her nightly routine that threw a wrench into her perfect life...
Shower Slip
One day, while she was preparing to shower as she did every night, Madelyn slipped and fell onto the edge. When she attempted to get up, she discovered that she was unable to make any movements at all. She waited. And waited. She waited there for 72 hours straight until someone would find her. In those moments, she did a lot of soul-searching. Eventually, she was discovered and received help...
Help Arrives
An ambulance was called and paramedics helped Madelyn into the vehicle. They determined she had a slipped disc. On the way to the hospital, Madelyn made a huge choice. It was a simple decision, but the choice would change the lives of both her and her family forever...
Losing Weight
Madelyn knew that the time had come where she needed to lose some serious weight. In an effort to provide for her kids, she neglected to care for her own wellbeing. "That should have been the first sign for me that I needed to lose weight, but it took me another year before I made the decision to do something," said Madelyn in a later interview. She got down to business to get herself in shape...
Putting In the Work
Most people struggle to lose weight. Madelyn knew it would be hard, but she soldiered on. She persisted in the face of difficulty, and never gave up. Her determination paid off, and it wasn't too long until she started seeing results. This motivated her even more. After only two years, she had lost a ton of weight and looked like a different person, but things would soon come to a head...
Body Confidence
Like many people, plus-sized or not, Madelyn still struggled with her body image. In 2013, she decided to finally face her biggest fear: wearing a swimsuit in public. At 43, she figured it was finally time to take control and show the world how much she loved her new body. The only issue was that while she had the confidence, she didn't have the beach to show it off at. Luckily, her kids had another idea...
Waterpark Fun
The best location to have some fun, show off a new suit, and catch sun rays? Well, that's a waterpark! The Missouri summers can be pretty ruthless, so the day was a welcome change of scenery. Madelyn purchased a new black bikini and brought the family to Adventure Oasis, a waterpark that many in Missouri hailed as one of the best. She was excited the show off her new body to a group of strangers, but things were about to go very south...
Authorities Approach
Madelyn was soaking up the sun when she noticed two female staff members approach her. She thought that maybe there was some kind of news, like the park shutting down early. Instead, they told her something she never expected to hear and made her gasp. Just when she was starting to feel safe in her new appearance, these two staffers said something that would turn her day from great to terrible...
Too Tiny
The young employees awkwardly approached her, but their nerves were disguised by their rudeness. They sternly told her that Adventure Oasis Park was for fun-seeking families, and her bathing suit was not exactly family-friendly. Her confidence vanished and she felt like an insecure teenager all over again. However, looking around the park, Madelyn noticed that something was off about her surroundings...
One in a Million
She couldn't help but notice that while the waterpark was packed with kids, there were tons of adults watching them, and a lot of those adults were also wearing bikinis. "This was not a thong," she stated in a later interview, "It was a standard, summertime, two-piece, string bikini… the same as everyone else who felt confident enough in their body to wear one." The staff weren't mad about the bikini, she realized, they were mad about her...
Embarrassed Again
Madelyn felt like she was back in high school with all the body-shaming and bullying. "My body is different from the young girls that were walking around in their bikinis," she acknowledged, "but why should I be made ashamed of my body? I am a 43-year-old woman who did not have the confidence or the body to put on a bikini until 40 years old." She felt that she was being discriminated against...
Choices Made
As it turns out, they didn't have a problem with her bikini, they had a problem with how she wore it. They told her that she had two options, both unreasonable: she could either cover up her bottom half or take her and her family out of the park. "They said that my bottoms were inappropriate. That was funny to me because they are full-size bottoms.” Speaking to their supervisor didn't provide much help...
Feelings Escalate
Things were getting tense, but Madelyn refused to go down without a fight. "I am not covering up, and if you expect me to leave, you had better call the police and have them escort me out," she recalled. The crew reluctantly called the police and had the woman publicly escorted out of the waterpark, bikini bottoms still visible. However, the wildest part was how the police acted during all of this...
Police Approval
According to Madelyn's retelling, the police were hesitant to bring her out of the park. They didn't believe she was doing anything wrong, but since the park had the ability to deny access, they had to remove her from the premises. She later recounted the walk-out, saying: "'We can't actually say anything,' they said as we walked outside… 'but I hope from the expression on our face you can tell how we feel.'"
To Facebook
Madelyn left the battle, but she would win the war. She decided to take to the internet to post about her hellish experience at Missouri's favorite waterpark. She wanted to warn other plus size women who went that their treatment might be similar to hers. "I felt like it was both age and body discrimination," she wrote, "I felt like I could look around me and I could see a handful of other girls half my age, wearing the same size swimming suit and not being singled out and told to put on the clothes or leave."
Unbelievable
People online were shocked by the accusations. Was this once-friendly place filled with laughter and light secretly horrible? Her post gained more and more traction, which resulted in more and more support for the mother. Her story was being heard by the local community, but the legend grew overnight, and soon the whole country was sharing the terrible tale. One news source reached out to chat...
Good Morning America
News outlets around the world fell in love with her story, including Good Morning America. Madelyn received support from all around the globe, even some places she had never heard of. Adventure Oasis was getting a lot of hate, but Madelyn got a lot of love. "I have been wanting to see the world," she wrote on Facebook, "and now the world is coming to me, and sending much love..."
A New Future
Madelyn was grateful, but she wasn't after fame. She wasn't after money. She knew she only had fifteen minutes of fame, and she wanted to make them count. She wanted change to happen. "I stand by my grievance that I was discriminated against at Adventure Oasis Water Park," she wrote, "I do not believe it should happen again. It is not money that is going to correct the issue, but a change in the swimming park’s ‘appropriate swimming attire' policy..."
A New Life
So, where is Madelyn today? Well, look for her on the coasts of Hawaii. Why bother a water park when you can move to a city right in the tropics? She decided she would never again fear whether or not she was going to be kicked out or away for how her body is shaped. Though she says she'll always be a Missouri girl, for now, her heart belongs to the ocean...not the slides.
Staying Strong
"I do love the Midwest. I’ve been a Missouri girl all my life, but there is a sort of oppression there that you don’t find in a lot of parts of the world," revealed Madelyn is a recent Facebook post, "To be kicked out of a water park for wearing a swimming suit, that is sort of a Midwestern thing. That’s not going to happen in Hawaii." Here's hoping it doesn't...