At the gate before Friday’s United Airlines flight 297 from San Francisco to Denver, a girl in pigtails was traveling with her large black lab wearing a pink “service animal” harness and a choke chain. The dog peed on the carpet. She hit and dragged it.
- Just outside the gate area, the dog urinates on the terminal carpet.
- The girl hits the dog and then drags it along instead of stopping, letting the dog finish, or notifying airport staff about the mess.
- About “20 paces later,” a passenger saw her bend down and hit the dog on the top of its head again.
UA297 to DEN with Person abusing Service Dog
byu/M_Le_Canard inunitedairlines
The passenger posted to Reddit asking how to handle this. Commenters suggested informing the airline and reporting it to airport police. A commenter called Denver airport police while the flight was still enroute. Another passenger on the same flight later chimed in saying they also reported it to the flight attendants. The original passenger called Denver airport police on arrival. They said they’d try to have an officer check on the dog when it deplaned. They followed up to say the dog was ok.
Generally people online are furious at the dog owner and concerned about the dog, calling it animal abuse, and saying things like “some people don’t deserve dogs” and “dogs are too good for us.”
There’s also a strong consensus that “this is not a real service dog” citing the choke chain, visible stress, peeing in the terminal, and handler abusing the dog. This dovetails with the broader frustration that “most dogs in service vests aren’t actually service dogs,” and that misuse is rampant.
If you witness an incident like this,
- Call airport police immediately.
- Give a precise description of the incident: time, gate, airline, physical description of handler and dog, direction of travel, and “they’re boarding UA297 to DEN right now.”
- Tell gate staff and demand they call security. Airline employees aren’t animal-control officers, but they can pull in airport police and station security, and they can log the incident in the airline’s system.
- Onboard, inform the flight attendants. They can note it in an incident report and coordinate with airport personnel at the destination.
- After landing, follow up. Call the destination airport’s police and offer to be a formal witness, email photos, etc.
I usually imagine that a passenger traveling with their dog really likes the dog and doesn’t want to be without it. Even if they needed to travel with the dog, they might put it in cargo, but they’re going to great lengths to avoid putting it through that – they’re doing it out of love. I guess they’re claiming it’s a service animal to save on fees, but if you’re going to hit the dog why have a dog in the first place?
“Let’s get ready to rumble!”
By letting dogs that are not true service dogs in the cabins of airplanes, airlines are enablers of problems like this. People can call the police but airlines are making this happen.
She did not handle having a fake service dog well at all. If the dog isn’t trained to behave in public like a service dog is, just don’t put it in a service vest. I was on a flight out of Aspen a week ago with no less than FIVE “service dogs”. I assume they were listed that way because they were too big to be cabin pets (two were beautiful big goldens), and American only allows active military to put dogs in the hold. As for the fees, they’re just stupid. Why should anyone pay $300 roundtrip to use the same space included in their ticket for a personal item? Like, if the dog pees or extra cleaning is required, fine, pass a $50 fee on during the flight. Or go for the happy medium of saying that cabin pets are free but you have to purchase an extra legroom seat. At least you’re getting something for that $20-80, and people would be less likely to lie to avoid feeling fleeced.
@jns said it perfectly.
Maybe the dog just had to go. I personally would have just minded my own business.
The first thought is to post on Reddit…..this generation is full of idiots.
The problem is the human. Not the “fake service dog”.
This is why I prefer dogs over some human owners. The dog was the better behaved animal in this story.
@Katie – Bingo. The rapacious in-cabin pet fees are the root cause of this issue. In 1998, the cost on most major U.S. airlines was $25 in each direction, or roughly $50 in today’s money. But the fees today are triple that for no good reason. Until airlines realize that the unreasonable fees are the genesis of related problems with animals in the cabin, people will continue to do whatever they can to circumvent the fees and operational issues will continue.
Regarding some comments: So we’ll see *fewer* pets on planes if the fees are reduced? And those pets will be less likely to pee or have bad owners simply by lowering the fees?
Noah’s ark.
@Thing 1 – Airlines have *always* restricted the number of in-cabin pets per cabin and per flight. By bringing the fees back down to earth, people will be forced to keep their pets inside their kennels the whole flight, thus less likely to cause discomfort and disturbances than in be fake service animals.