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‘Too fat to fly’ man finally home
230kg Frenchman arrives in Rhône-Alpes after three weeks trying to get back from US
THE morbidly obese Frenchman who was said to be “too big to fly” has finally arrived home in Rhône-Alpes after a three-week nightmare.
Kevin Chenais, who weighs 230kg and gets around using a mobility scooter, has been receiving treatment for a hormonal problem for the past 18 months in a clinic in the US but was refused permission to fly back across the Atlantic with British Airways – the airline that carried him to the US originally.
Since the end of last month he and his family have been trying to get him home to Ferney Voltaire in Ain, just across the border from Geneva, but have hit obstacles at every stage.
BA refused the 22-year-old permission to fly saying it was “not possible to safely accommodate him on any of our aircraft".
His parents, René and Christina, then tried to book him on Cunard’s Queen Mary ocean liner – but the cruise firm refused to take him for medical reasons.
The company did, however, put him up in a hotel in Chicago until Virgin Airways stepped in to offer him a transatlantic flight.
He and his parents finally arrived in London on Tuesday and hoped to catch a Eurostar cross-Channel train to France.
But Eurostar, too, refused to carry him because of safety rules, saying he was a risk "to himself, our crew and all of the other passengers on board".
Instead, the company paid for a special ambulance to take the family to join the ferry Spirit of Britain at Dover after contacting P&O Ferries to get him across the Channel.
Once safely back in France at Calais, the ambulance took him home to Ferney Voltaire – with a London taxi following them all the way carrying their luggage.
Mother Christina Chenais attacked British Airways for leaving them stranded in Chicago, saying “they brought us here and now they just leave us”.
Yesterday Kevin’s father told Metronews once he was back in Ferney Voltaire: “Finally we’re home! We left on Wednesday morning, October 30 and there have been a lot of problems, a lot of anguish and a lot of fatigue. Especially for Kevin.
“Even in the US transport is not adapted for him.”
Screengrab: CBS
