Service Animal Does His Business on Plane, Passenger on Next Flight Told to Clean It Up

Last year comedian Nicole Byer went on Conan and told a story about finding poop in a sealed blanket on Delta.

She was flying from Louisiana to Atlanta enroute to Los Angeles when she pulled her first class blanket out of sealed plastic and “brown crumble falls on me” then she saw a “brown thing” and the smell hit her. She says she found poop in her phone a week later since the phone was in her lap.

Now comes word that a service animal ‘became ill’ on a Delta flight, did his business on the plane, and since the airline began boarding before the cleaning crew had finished a passenger stepped on it. Crew “gave him 2 paper towels and told him to clean it up.”

According to the passenger on Thursday’s Atlanta – Miami flight Delta 1949, “it was everywhere. It was on my seat. It was on the floor. My feet were in it.”

On arrival in Miami the aircraft was taken out of service for a deep cleaning.

When a British Airways passenger on a London – Capetown flight discovered their seat was soaked with urine crew told him to clean it himself with wet wipes. He was given 5000 Avios for his trouble.

Behavior of passengers — and animals — on planes is a problem. United once had to divert a flight because of what a passenger wouldn’t stop smearing on the aircraft. One passenger took policing dog owners who don’t clean up after their pets into their own hands and one airline manager won’t put up with it either.

When the issue comes up on the plane it’s a failure of the cleaning process, and not really the fault of the flight attendant. I wouldn’t want to pick it up either. That’s, I think, when you stop the boarding process — rather than force everyone to sit in it until hitting South Florida.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Absolutely the fault of the flight attendant. They claim to be there for our safety. Time for them to either do their jobs or acknowledge they are merely irrelevant sky waitresses with a superiority complex.

  2. Service dog or comfort/therapy dog? There is a big difference. Service dogs are not only trained to perform specific tasks for their partners, but are also highly trained in regards to when and where they can relieve themselves. My wife’s two service dogs would never relieve themselves without permission from my wife. They were trained to only go on command. Both dogs were veteran air travelers and never relieved themselves on a plane, train, boat, or car. I doubt comfort/therapy dogs are as well trained.

    The owner of the offending dog should have taken responsibility and cleaned up as best they could. Additionally, the owner should have properly disposed of the dog waste and inform the cabin crew of the incident. The cabin crew should have notified the ground crew and ensured the proper cleaning and sanitizing was performed. What Ms. Byer experienced was totally unacceptable and irresponsible.

  3. Was on a SFO – LAX flight in Business/First. Lady across the aisle from me with her “emotional support” pet – a dog. Three blankets afforded to the dog – two for the floor it was standing on, one to wrap it to keep it warm. The bonus was for the captain to come on over the PA to thank us for flying and to make a special welcome for the dog in 1E. I can’t express how privileged I felt that that emotional support pet was on the same flight as me.

  4. I have a 3 1/2 pound poodle. She is trained to go potty on command in her potty place in my back yard. She will not go potty when I take her on her 3 mile walk everyday. When I travel with her I have a piece of astroturf that I put next to where I want her to go. It is easy to train a dog to do its business on command. She can go 12 plus hours if necessary between potty breaks. I’ve flown with her from Detroit to Alaska. I took her outside on my connection. A well trained pet (Therapy dog). At least my dog is as well behaved as a service dog. She does provide a service for me. She is trained to wrap around my neck when I’m in extreme pain. I had c spine surgery and the heat from her body relaxes muscle spasms without meds.

  5. 5,000 Avios miles for sitting in a urine soaked seat is ridiculous! My wife and I were awarded 50,000 Avios each because we were flying first class in one of their older 747’s which they said, “Does not measure up to the quality our passengers expect from British Airways.” I would think urine in your seat would not measure up to the “quality our passengers expect” either…….

  6. With so many emotional support animals flying, I expect Delta to start a new premium class of service named, “Delta Comfort+ with poop” and “Delta Comfort+ poop-free.”

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