A Delta Air Lines elite passenger received a rare first class upgrade – but 15 minutes later was sent back to coach in order to give their seat up front to a dog instead. The airline told the customer that the dog was a service animal, and there’s “nothing they can do.”
I got upgraded to first this morning, only to 15 mins later get downgraded (to a worst seat than I previously had). I asked the desk agent what was going on and she said “something changed”.
Okay, fine, I am disgruntled but whatever, I then board only to see this dog in my first class seat … And now I’m livid.
I immediately chat Delta support and they say “you may be relocated for service animals” and there is nothing they can do.
I genuinely don’t see Delta’s logic in bumping a passenger from first class to accommodate a dog in the bulkhead. To be sure, airlines are generally required to provide reasonable accommodations under the Air Carrier Access Act, and one way they do that can be with bulkhead seats. However a last minute seat switch certainly wouldn’t be required.
- Airlines must provide seating accommodations for passengers with disabilities if needed (e.g. for legroom, mobility, or being near a service animal). Bulkhead seats are often used for this purpose.
- However, they are not required to displace other passengers from their assigned seats unless the airline has not implemented policies to reserve specific seating for passengers with disabilities (e.g. Southwest, but they pre-board such passengers who can then choose their own seat adventure).
- Airlines must prioritize disabled passengers for bulkhead seats only if those seats are necessary as an accommodation for the passenger and only if that accommodation has been requested in advance. (They should make reasonable efforts to accommodate at the airport, but don’t have the same obligation, and again wouldn’t have to displace another passenger to do it).
It’s only if an accommodation had been requested and approved in advance but Delta failed to execute on it, or mistakenly upgraded the passenger in a seat that should have been set aside for the dog already, that the airline’s downgrade makes any sense.
And upgrading a passenger and then downgrading them should be treated much more gingerly by an airline that fancies itself premium (as much as Delta executives despise doing upgrades at all). Proactive compensation would have been appropriate here, since this only could have arisen do to an airline error.
Delta does seem to have gone to the dogs, and not just because only about 13% of passengers in first class are sitting there with upgrades these days. In late summer I wrote about a first class passenger booted to accommodate a plus-sized woman with an emotional support dog and 4 carry-ons.
And here’s a dog recently eating at a table in the new Delta One lounge at New York JFK before flying business class. It was hardly the only dog making themselves at home in a Delta lounge.
@oliverbelles My review of the new @Delta One lounge @jfk✈️ But seriously…what do you guys call this dessert?! #fypage #maltipoo #dogsoftiktok #dogvoiceover @delta @Les Belles NYC ♬ original sound – oliverbelles
Last month I was actually on a Delta flight that the pilot turned around due to an unauthorized dog on board, they offloaded the passenger – and then let her and the dog back on. This led to a couple hours’ delay due to a shift change for refueling. The woman spent the flight petting the dog in her lap (hint: it wasn’t really a service animal).
@Gary, does a Service animal get its own seat free? I thought they had to sit at the feet of the passenger. Also, so the GA agent can take away his newly assigned seat (the upgrade), but can’t take away the seat from the person who got his old “good” coach seat, to make the person whole again (back to his original seat) – or at least unharmed? That is the crime here – HE LOST HIS ORIGINAL SEAT and ended up in an inferior seat.
I have a service animal who has flown with me over a dozen times. She always sits in my lap, because she is 7 pounds. And I often pet her. I say this because the size of a dog, where it sits when the owner is also sitting and whether the owner shows it affection has absolutely no relation to whether it has been trained to assist with a disability. A medical alert dog does not come in any particular size.
Morons frequently flying thi k they’re entitled to a lot. You didn’t pay for the seat, you’re not entitled to it. Get over yourself. Especially regarding someone with a disability that is paying.
In 2019, Delta was sued by a passenger who was attacked and injured by another passenger’s emotional support dog; the dog was a personal pet, not a trained service animal. There are plenty of news articles about it.
By law, emotional support animals are not service animals. A service is trained to perform a specific task for a person such as alert for low blood sugar before a seizure or guide a person with blindness . It takes a special animal, thousands of dollars, and years of training to become a service animal. A vest or harness purchased online does not qualify an animal as a service animal. Untrained animals are pets. All passengers, flight crews, and airline employees should have the reasonable expectation that all passengers will follow the rules.
There are many other less stressful forms of travel for people who need to travel with a family pet. It’s unreasonable and selfish for a pet owner to subject their pet to the rigor of any long distance travel without special carriers and accommodation.
Unless your animal has specialized training, all travel will be stressful. Show your pet your love by leaving it at home with a sitter.
Having worked for a major U.S. airline, I have seen, and have had shared to me by others, horror stories (some, too explicit to print) of “service animals,” and no considerations for other paying passengers (but they “won’t serve peanuts…”) I would venture to say that more than 80% of these belong to people who just don’t want to pay for pet care/hotel or put them in a carrier below. My neighbors even ask me how to “get around” it. I tell them sarcastically to just print a phoney certificate and by a “service animal” vest on Esty. As for the few legitimate service animals, maximum consideration of the inconveniences to the other passengers must be taken by the owner. Being cute is not a mitigation.
Elite flyer here, and I also am sick of the people who are ok with dogs and other animals taking priority in the cabin.
First, there needs to be licensing and an obvious, non-fake way of ensuring that animal is really a service animal. I see way too many that are not, and you van tell because a service animal is well trained and behaved. Most, I believe, are not.
Second, since when is a dog, or any other animal on par with humans? Owners and their supporters have become ridiculous with the cruelty laws and much more. For example, leash laws always include cats, but tell that to cat owners and they will howl about how cruel it is to keep their murder fluff inside, meanwhile the actual wildlife is being decimated by cats.
I do not think that your pet should have the right to inconvenience other people.
There is a theme here. Gary whines when he can’t get upgraded to the suite he did not pay for and sides with hubric “elites” when they can’t “enjoy” the upgraded seats they also did not pay for. Gary bemoans the airline trying to get extra money by selling upgrades. Gary sides or seems to with those who begrudge those with disabilities who need a service animal. The blog should be renamed “three cheers for entitlements … a guide to not paying”. The person complaining has now had their 15 seconds as there are many news articles. Meanwhile Delta did the right thing and took proper care of a customer with special needs. Yes disabilities count for more than selfish entitlements to “freebies”. Gary your framing of this issue directly contributed to the nastiness displayed by roughly half your commenter’s. We all owe the man with the service dog an apology. Neither he nor hus dog did anything wrong.
@Michael Lissack – what sort of cognitive dissonance is it to say that someone being upgraded has no right to complain about a downgrade, because they were getting ‘something for nothing’ (which is false, what they got was because of a year’s worth of airline ticket purchases) and also that giving a first class seat to a dog that was not paid for is doing ‘the right thing’?
If I had actually been upgraded and had a boarding pass to prove it, I’d decline the downgrade, and insist that for the IDB I be given significant compensation and be allowed to disembark then put on the next flight in F. Take my checked luggage off, too.
A service animal should always take priority
IMO, Billy Bob on the phone needs to buy an additional seat for his “service dog of size”, otherwise the dog should stay under his legs or in his lap. I am perfectly o.k. with service dogs next to me that fit in their owners space.
Time to license service animals. Not emotional support animals unless a physician writes a prescription. Which then allows them a license. The animal owner has to show the License, just like with TSA. Then, if the licensed animal, that is not trained, bites somebody, the physician is also liable for lying. It’s called malpractice and most of us have good insurance. MD here and I would vote for that.
Accommodation is not absolute. Designate specific flights for animals, have passengers sign a release from liability and let the passengers deal with the abundance of animals. Also, designate specific flights for passengers needing special assistance, such as wheelchairs.
There should only be a few schools that service animals can be certified at. It takes 6 months to train a real service animal and it’s expensive. The animals should get a license with pictures from the service school and a number to verify the dog. I love dogs but it’s takes away from the real service animals. I once had a lady tell me she trained her dog herself….ok that’s not a service animal. Had a “service dog” poop in a first class seat a few years ago. Yup it’s all good.
@wayne T Yes, Indeed. There should be a rigorous 2-part process: first, determine if the pax actually needs a service animal in the first place. Step 1) This process shall include a written medical professional’s evaluation of BOTH physical and psychological conditions of the pax; and, Step 2) the animal must be a trained / approved service animal with a veterinary attestation to the fact. The reality is that 99% of the time these are merely pets masquerading as “service animals.”
This made it bad for a lot of help animals! How inconsiderate.
Cute dog. Go back to coach, Mr. Self-Entitled. If you want to be guaranteed First Class, pay for it. Moron.
when moving across country with my Small Support Dog. I had a crate but was still charged a few for her in First Class . No problems altho her carrier was open she never moved out of it. I understand by law I could have had her on my lap. Gentleman who sat next to me love her and even played with . Not all service or EMS dogs are problems it is non owners.
I blame the FAA and the rest of the federal government for this foolishness.
First, airlines do not allow Emotional Support Animals to fly in cabin. Only trained Service Dogs are allowed to fly in cabin.
Service Dogs can be ANY breed, as long as they are task trained to assist a person with a disability. This training includes hundreds of hours of socialization, obedience, task and public access training. Part of public access training includes training in proper Service Dog behavior; etiquette.
It is very likely that one of the crew goofed on the seating and didn’t realize that a Service Dog Team was still going to board. Could have been a new flight attendant.
Bulkhead seating is normally used for Service Dog Teams when the dog’s carrier cannot fit under the seat in front. Generally, the seat next to the handler is left vacant to make room for the Service Dog on the floor. Service Dogs are never allowed on the airplane seats.
The woman in the picture with four carry-ons: If she was allowed to bring all those bags onboard, then it’s quite possible that some of it was necessary medical equipment. That is allowed as an extra item. Or, maybe some of the bags belong to another passenger she is waiting for (restroom break; buying snacks; coffee). I’m just giving her the benefit of the doubt.
Service Dog Handlers are TIRED of people with fake and poorly trained dogs trying to attack our Service Dogs. We are fed up with it!
If one needs a service or support animal to fly then they shouldn’t be flying end of story
Feel self-entitled much @ben_bob?
What happens when you end up next to a service animal or support animal and you are allergic? Who is managing that?
ESA’s in my opinion is a scam and a bunch of BS. Most people love their pets and are great company but to use this to take advantage of every possibility to rent an apartment, take them into a restaurant, seated in a plane etc is just someone who is a selfish person and is just a douche in general. Of course there are some exceptions; veterans with PSD and other rare cases but for the majority it’s people who love to play the victim in everything and are not good people.
What a bunch of whiners. You got from here to there, right? That was the whole point of the trip, correct? Or was the point in your thin skinned mind to whine and cause drama and seek fake “justice”? Suck it up buttercup and go about your business.
The passenger bought a FC ticket for the dog. Delta ok’ed it.
The “victim” paid for a coach seat. You are not entitled in this unfortunate situation to act like a child.
In other words the pos knew their dog was to big to sit on their lap and didn’t want to buy another first class seat so they played stupid knowing Delta is to dumb to downgrade her to coach with her dog. Pathetic.
I highly doubt this is the full story.
No airline would leave an empty seat for a service animal when they obviously have to fit at the owner’s feet.
That seat was likely filled by another passenger. Why/IF (!) that person was downgraded is a different story.
I don’t visit this blog much, but always seems like clickbait hyperbole.
For all those complaining that service animals need to be licensed THEY ARE. Service animals have to go through rigorous training and licensing along with documentation for the owner. The REAL issue is that folks have learned to game the system whether uts at the store on a bus or airplane etc. See the ADA and even the carrier act (because of the language in the ADA) doesn’t allow them to ask for documentation proving its indeed a service animal only to ask what the animal is trained for (ie seizures, PTSD, etc) and thats IT.
So you get folks like the woman at the end of the article bringing her average pet with her, abusing the ADA and carrier act. Emotional support animals are NOT SERVICE ANIMALS. You can fill out a form pay $50 and get a tag for that. No training nothing just means your pet makes you feel happy. But again ppl game this and KNOW that service animals are deferred to so they claim their emotional support animal aka regular pet is one to get special treatment.
1 easy way for me to tell is how the pet acts. If it stays there doesn’t react to what’s going on around them don’t pull at the leash nothing it means it’s working. An animal that is tail wagging pulling barking playing being pet or handled by other than the owner etc is just a pet.
Perish the thought of commenting how disgusting this treatment is for the loyal passenger, as you will be savagely destroyed by the all-powerful dog-owner lobby, that dogs are better than humans. Period.
Really,? With all the heart wrenching issues going on in our world; challenging the rights of a service dog (in any/all capacities) is how you choose to utilize your energy? GROW UP- HUMBLE YOURSELF & be THANKFUL that YOU DON’T need the presence of a support dog,(cat, bird, horse, goat, ……..)
You would greatly benefit by volunteering at a homeless shelter, food bank, animal shelter, assisted living facility etc.
Like the wheelchair scam, so is the service dog scam.
In Florida, it is a criminal misdemeanor to represent that a pet is a service animal. A service animal is an animal that performs a physical service for the owner. An emotional support animal is NOT a service animal. See ch. 438, Fla.Stat.
That’s a first-class seat? If so, then my bulkhead seat on Southwest Airlines Low-fare is also first-class.
As a disabled person whose life literally depends on my medical alert service dog, I applaud Delta for giving priority to the service dog over an elite passenger’s upgrade. I have flown on Delta with my large service dog and bought 2 seats to accommodate him. Seats 1a and 1b in first class were empty so they moved us to that row. Normally, I request a bulkhead in coach but when I book late it’s not always available and so I just buy 2 seats. You’d have to be a very selfish person not to want to give up a seat you didn’t pay for to a lifesaving service animal. Service animals have been through literally more hours of training than a commercial pilot. They are not emotional support animals aka pets. They are specifically trained to perform lifesaving tasks or other tasks that improve and assist the lives of their disabled handlers. Flying as a disabled person is difficult enough and flying with a service animal is more so. It’s not a “privilege” to have your life depend on a service animal. It’s a tremendous responsibility and burden. The only privileged one was the guy who got a free seat in first class and then whined like a 10 year old when he went back to economy.