Budget airline Easyjet is defending itself after a photo of a woman sitting on one of its plane seats with no back made international headlines.
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"Easyjet beats @Ryanair to have backless seats," Twitter user Matthew Harris captioned his photo of a passenger on a seat with no backing.
"How can this be allowed."
The airline says using the seat was indeed not allowed - but the photo itself isn't the only reason Easyjet is under fire.
Harris' tweet has generated tens of thousands of shares and likes. Among the replies is one from Easyjet's official account, attempting to have the photo taken down.
"Hi Matthew, thanks for bringing this to our attention, before we can investigate this could I ask you to remove the photograph and then DM us more info regarding this, so we can best assist you," Easyjet's Twitter account stated.
Harris refused, insisting the photo was real and nearly an hour into a flight from London to Geneva.
"One has to wonder how safe the rest of the plane was. This was her seat. The lady was moved to a spare seat once the flight was fully boarded," Harris said in a later tweet.
"Not sure what would have happened if the flight was full."
Easyjet has denied that the woman was assigned the backless seat and was not allowed to sit in it.
"Safety is our highest priority and Easyjet operates its fleet of aircraft in strict compliance with all safety guidelines," the airline told CNN.
"No passengers were permitted to sit in these seats as they were inoperative awaiting repair."
Despite Easyjet's statement, the company continues to face online criticism not only for the backless seats, but also for trying to have the photo removed.
Newshub.
