LONDON: A young, clinically obese Frenchman who was stranded in the United States because he was deemed too heavy to fly finally took a plane to Britain on Tuesday, one step closer to going home.

Kevin Chenais, who weighs 230 kilograms, arrived at London’s Heathrow airport with his parents after Virgin Atlantic agreed to fly him back from New York.

Chenais, 22, had been in the United States since May 2012 for treatment for a hormone imbalance.

He had been set to return home on British Airways last month but the airline refused to accept him as a passenger, saying he was too heavy.

The family subsequently tried to sail across the Atlantic on the Queen Mary 2, but the cruise ship’s owners also refused to have him onboard.

After arriving at Heathrow, a visibly exhausted Chenais described the ordeal to return home as “terrible, terrible, terrible.”

“The flight was really hard,” he told AFP as he sat on his mobility scooter at the airport.

“I didn’t stop crying for the whole flight.”

Kevin, who was wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the Stars and Stripes, praised Virgin for flying him out from New York’s JFK airport and paying for the economy-class flights for him and his parents.

“That was very kind of them,” he said, “but I was very uncomfortable — I have a lot of problems with the skin on my thighs and the seat was small.”

The family were met at Heathrow by French consular staff who arranged for him to travel to France on a Paris-bound Eurostar train later Tuesday.

The family will them make their way to the town of Ferney-Voltaire near the Swiss border.

Chenais, who requires frequent oxygen and regular care, expressed his anger at British Airways and the Queen Mary 2’s owners Carnival for refusing to take him home.

“We were all set to take the boat, then they turned us back without even seeing me, without even trying,” he said.

“So I’m really angry — doubly angry because British Airways refused to take me.”

Kevin’s father Rene, 62, said his son had been left feeling “empty” when British Airways refused to let him fly.

The same airline had flown him to the United States in the first place, he pointed out.

“They took him out there, but they wouldn’t take him back,” he said.

“This is a case of discrimination.”

The journey was tiring for Kevin and the Virgin plane was not specially adapted for his needs, his father added.

“Kevin has always been kind of alone in life,” he told AFP.