A Scottish content creator who lives with a rare medical condition has revealed that she spends over $50,000 annually on business-class tickets because her body cannot fit in the standard economy seating.
Summer Robert, who suffers from macromastia—a constant excessive breast growth explained that paying additional money is not an extra expense, but something necessary for her well-being. Her chest has a size 30R and weighs over 25 kilograms.
“There is a real physical and financial toll of navigating a world that feels increasingly designed for a one-size-fits-all standard,” Robert said.
Robert noticed that traveling in economy class was impossible for her during her first business-class trip to Thailand. “It was like a new world,” she recalls. “I just thought every time you flew it was hell and nothing could be done about it.”
Traveling by economy, she finds it difficult to perform the simplest procedures. “Even something so simple like putting the tray table down to eat my dinner is so difficult; it doesn’t go down all the way,” she says.
Another problem related to small cabins is unnecessary contact with other travelers. “I always end up with the person next to me touching my boobs, and it makes both of us uncomfortable,” she notes.
For an influencer, traveling is a must-do part of her job, and a recent trip to Los Angeles and Melbourne cost her $14,686. Apart from this trip, she travels from Los Angeles to Scotland twice a year and also visits Australia. She claims her annual travel budget will “sicken most.”
Robert accuses the airline industry of a “money grab,” saying that airlines intentionally reduce seat counts to make travelers pay for higher-priced classes, forcing people like her to pay thousands of extra dollars. While she believes that this approach is wrong, she admits that it is a smart strategy.
Lack of space also poses serious risks to her safety. Recently, she burned herself during her trip to Los Angeles as hot tea poured down onto her chest in a cramped cabin without any stable surface. “I spilled hot boiling tea on them, and I burnt them completely,” she says.
Robert is also sensitive to heat, as her condition causes her to be too warm. “I get really, really warm because I’m carrying a lot of weight in my chest,” she explains. “In a crowded cabin, this physical strain becomes unbearable.”
Robert often receives inappropriate attention when traveling. For example, during her last stopover at Heathrow airport, a stranger sat beside her despite numerous available seats and complimented her body, asking her to travel with him to Berlin. She called her friend to give her an excuse to distance herself.
Once in a British Airways cabin, an employee who introduced himself as a representative of British Airways sat beside her, making inappropriate remarks about her appearance and asking her the following question outside the Prada store:
“If I buy you a bag, do I get to see them?” She said she understood the comment as a reference to her chest. She said the same employee was later checking in passengers at her departure gate. “Honestly, it was so scary,” Robert said.
However, Robert wants to tell her own story to people.
“I want people to know that it isn’t all glitz and glam,” she said. “It’s fun for sure; I love my body so much, but there are definitely downsides.”
She calls on the airline industry to prioritize passenger dignity and comfort over making money and hopes that business class becomes more affordable and accessible.
