Marissa Bode is criticizing Southern Airways after a recent incident in which she claims she was denied boarding due to her disability.
The 25-year-old Wicked star uploaded a TikTok video on Thursday (April 23) to detail what allegedly happened to her.
“I was denied boarding a flight because I’m disabled,” she says at the beginning of her video, sharing how she had a speaking engagement to get to in Pennsylvania and took a flight just fine with a different airway.
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But problems reportedly arose when she went to talk to Southern Airways to board her connecting flight. According to Marissa, she got to the gate and asked for some assistance with locating her boarding pass.
“And the two people at the gate look at me and they’re like, ‘Can you stand?’ And I said, ‘No.’ And they said, ‘I’m sorry, because of that we’re gonna have to deny you boarding,’” she said.
Marissa continued, “They proceeded to tell me all the planes within this airline have stairs to get on the plane. Wild. Never heard of that before. To which I said, ‘I’ve never heard that before. You’re telling me none of the people who have flown on your plane before are disabled?’”
She went on to say that the whole thing was “blatant segregation” and also added that a staff member claimed her 35 lb. wheelchair and all of her luggage was going to be a problem.
Marissa noted that she only had a small duffle carry on and is heavier than her chair, not to mention that other people’s luggage is probably heavier, too.
She goes on to say she talked to her manager, who told her he’d talked to Southern Airways ahead of time to see if they could make the accommodation and they “fully assured” him and told him yes.
Marissa has detailed issues she’s had before in other situations with airlines, like a time she says her wheelchair was almost sent to San Francisco, where she does not live.
“It’s so much more than a mistake. These are our lives,” Marissa said. “My wheelchair is my freedom.”