A woman flying Southwest Airlines was kicked off her flight after petting their puppy through the mesh of the puppy’s pet carrier prior to departure, according to other passengers on board.
You should contact Sarah price and her husband, Colorado and Cali flight pic.twitter.com/YMJDqlcpPh
— Kaulon (@kdemcho) October 22, 2023
There are two ways to bring a pet onto a plane.
- Pet in cabin. You pay a fee, and the pet carrier takes the place of a carry on bag. It must go under the seat in front of you, and airlines limit the number allowed on each flight. The pet has to fall within size and weight limits. And you aren’t permitted to take the animal out while on board.
- Emotional support animal. All bets are off. No carrier is needed. Feel free to bring a horse or a pig. No need to pay a fee.
Airlines, with the blessing of the Department of Transportation, have cracked down on emotional support animals. Mostly this means filling out paperwork in advance of the flight, and the average person bringing two of each animal and turning their plane into Noah’s Ark isn’t great at doing paperwork let alone in advance. That’s reduced the frequency of crazy emotional support animal stories.
However taking the paperwork path allows you to have the animal out, feed it, cuddle with it. In fact if it’s an emotional support animal, Southwest Airlines will allow it to roam free in the cabin.
This is hysterical! On my @SouthwestAir flight a #frenchbulldog was roaming the aisles. Despite flight attendant announcements, no one was claiming him. Finally, his owner woke up from a nap and we were directing this pup back to his seat pic.twitter.com/GXpupPe9qS
— Amanda Dukes (@Amanda_Dukes1) November 23, 2022
Paying extra for pet in cabin does not allow this, and can get you kicked off… just for interacting with your pet.
People abused airlines’ previous fears of the Air Carrier Access Act and their liability for denying the needs of someone with a disability who needs a pet for emotional support. At the same time, between the fee (despite the pet carrier taking the place of a bag) and stricter rules, it’s no wonder that passengers preferred the savings and flexibility of faking the need for emotional support.
And was it even always fake? After running the gauntlet of travel with a major U.S. airline, most of us need a little emotional support from time to time.
I did this twice with American this summer, once in Minneapolis and once in St Louis. I paid, bought seats for both dogs, and had to keep them on the floor during takeoff, and they took their seats once in the air. It worked out perfectly; unfortunately, the second little girl I picked up has serious health challenges, and we are concerned that she will make it. She has been seeing the team at the University of Penn Vet Hospital.
Gary, you need to update this article to current regulations. Aside from paid pets which need to remain in carriers, there are two classes of animals that are allowed in the cabin. Emotional support animals are one category, and these are now somewhat more controlled and require paperwork. The larger category is service animals, and under current regulations no paperwork or advance notice is required. The airline may inquire what service the animal performs but the passenger has privacy rights that do not require them to disclose their health needs or conditions. To avoid being sued, it’s generally safer for the carrier not to inquire or push back. Hence the continuing petting zoo in the cabins.
I would like to hear/see the lead up to this story – the video only shows her leaving – what transpired before she was kicked off?
Hey Carl – one might consider you are both correct. I’m of the thought – service animals, with the author are not pets, so I would have excluded them as well.
Famously, Joan Rivers traveled with Spike; she had bought him a seat and he would sit next to her outside of his carrier. But in general – PETC, ESA, or service animals are to remain on the floor. You can hold your small pet on your lap, but not place them on a paid for or empty seat.
The individual who took the video claims they were also kicked off the flight for their comments and support of the woman and her dog.
Hey Gary
You forgot to write anything about the story. Just one sentence and then the rest is about just general pets on planes. I wanted to know about the story in the headline. I guess all news is clickbait now.
NO DOGS ON PLANES – PERIOD !! They are gross, smelly, carry a variety of diseases and many people are absolutely ALLERGIC TO DOGS.
The only exception should be for the BLIND.
There’s undoubtedly more to this story, So irritating when these things catch fire with 1-sided “evidence” which is usually video that only captures the consequence, not the actions leadiong up to it. Many people are severely uncomfortable around animals and choose not to have them, or be in proximity to them. I’m always curious about these free roaming animal stories and who would be responsible for the complete panic attack that would cause some fliers. Just as much as I’m curious about who is liable for a shopper’s dog that attacks someone in a Home Depot. I know who Id go after 😉 Bottom line the animal-on-plane jig is up. Go throught hte proper channels, pay the fees, and dont test the limits once youre onboard. You can blame the emnotionakl support ferrett I sat next to once who peed all over its owner and surroundings.
If one “needs” an “emotional support” animal in order to fly, them one does not need to fly. Just another leftist liberal bastardization on common sense – their “thinking” is ruining the United States. 99% of Americans do not “need” this type of stupidity becoming the accepted norm. Pacifying the 1% at the expense of the other 99% is absurd.
Gary,
When did you write this Article in 2020?
You wrote: “Emotional support animal. All bets are off. No carrier is needed. Feel free to bring a horse or a pig. No need to pay a fee.” and “Airlines, with the blessing of the Department of Transportation, have cracked down on emotional support animals. Mostly, this means filling out paperwork in advance of the flight, and the average person bringing two of each animal and turning their plane into Noah’s Ark isn’t great at doing paperwork, let alone in advance. That’s reduced the frequency of crazy emotional support animal stories.”
Aside from a couple of international airlines, no US airlines allow ESA, and the DOT forms are strictly for Service Dogs. Can someone say their dog is a Service Dog and fill out the form? Absolutely, they can, but if you knew anything about what a Service dog goes through in training and the expected behavior that airport staff monitors, 99% of these fake ones are turned away.
@DaveFromBoca – You may want to educate yourself on disabilities, visible and non-visible, and the laws protecting those with them. The law does not consider an Allergy a disability, and as such, if you were on a plane with someone who had a service dog, you would be reseated if possible, and if not, or you still don’t like it, you would be removed from the aircraft and rescheduled on the next available flight. Now if you’re going to fire back and say you’ll sue, good luck and if you say you’ll never fly my airline again – Good Riddance we really don’t care
@818PilotGuy – what I wrote is accurate, passengers just have to fill out a form. And that appears to be what happens a majority of the time.
The lead was buried ; never to see the light of day. Worthless article.
Sad anwd disturbing story about a doggie on horrible Southewest Airlines. This airline is a Disgrace to America and a bigger disgrace to God! I feel so awful for the lady who cares for that doggie, but God will Bless her big time as karma comes back to. Southwest airlines!
Respectfully, Southwest (and most if not all US carriers) have banned Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) from flights since 2021 so the content of this article is a wee bit out of date. Here’s the post from Southwest in 2021 where they announce their updated policy:
https://community.southwest.com/t5/Blog/Southwest-Airlines-Revised-Policies-for-Emotional-Support-and/ba-p/115899
Even though it was a few years before the ESA ban was enacted, personally I think it was the woman that brought an Emotional Support Peacock on a flight that was the beginning of the end for ESA’s and ruined it for the rest of us.
Southwest BLOWS!
In more ways than one.
George – Southwest is the finest airline in America – bar none.
David R Miller, you said “Just another leftist liberal bastardization on common sense –”. No. As a liberal I’m opposed to emotional support animals and agree if you need to fly with one you shouldn’t fly.
The fact you blanket statement all liberals in one broad stroke shows how close minded and ignorant you are, as more than one thing can be true for not only liberals but right wing Nazis such as yourself
Gary, the information you provided is NOT correct. The ACAA removed protections for ESAs in 2021. Only trained service dogs are allowed in cabin.
“ Under the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) a service animal means a dog, regardless of breed or type, that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Animal species other than dogs, emotional support animals, comfort animals, companionship animals, and service animals in training are not service animals.”
The link to the ACAA is provided for your convenience in finding factual information.
https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/service-animals
FWIW: I flew SWA last week. 1passenger came on with her dog on her shoulder. Told the FA, my husband is already boarded with the carrier. Other FA stated in the air to the first, that the dog was never put in the carrier.
Sat across from another with a medium sized dog as an emotional support animal. She went to the bathroom, it immediately jumped into her seat. She was directed it must remain on the floor. It was I her lap and on the seat next to her, as soon as FA was out-of sight.
Also while going through the security check point, another very nervous “emotional support” animal not in a carrier, took a large dump just through the scanner. The owner was denying it was her dog, while it was still evacuating its bowels.
@Dee-elle – read what I wrote. It’s still easy to bring an ESA on board just filling out paperwork in advance.
Goawayget alife – I never said “all liberals”. You are a typical leftist liberal who takes umbrage at the truth and then you resort to do what you claim my statement makes me by calling me a Nazi. You should read the definition of leftist liberal before making a fool of yourself. If you have difficulty comprehending the definition, ask any conservative and they will explain it to you.
@gary, no it is not. There is no airline paperwork for ESAs. If you fill out the DOT form for service dogs saying your dog is an ESA, it will not be approved.
Is it possible to say your dog is a service dog when it isn’t actually task trained? Sure, but there are also penalties for that.
And regardless, the only animals allowed as service animals are dogs – not any of the others you mentioned.
It took me about 2 minutes to find an much more informative article on this incident – the woman was removed from the plane because she had her dog out of the carrier and could not stop it from crying repeatedly when in the carrier.
Why not report that?
The dog was whining unless it was unrestrained, and required the owner to leave the kennel open. The LAST thing I want to hear is a whining puppy and “shush” all through a flight. If you need to bring your pet, then you need to follow the rules. it’s plainly a safety issue.
This exact thing happened to me on Jet Blue on December 8, 2023. The boarding of the plane is outside and requires walking up 2 steep ramps. This was my first time traveling with my pet so I inquired all the way in order to be in compliance with all their documented and undocumented regulations. They insisted I transfer my pet on the tarmac with A320 jetbust engines roaring just feet from my pet and I. We were successful in boarding after horrible treatment and mocking from 10-15 crew members laughing and bullying me as I sat on the tarmac for the transfer. Upon sitting in my seat all buckled ready to fly, I was upset and petting my dog in the carrier after the trauma on the tarmac with jet engines in his little ears. Next thing I knew some man said rudely Ma’am and then repeated again loudly Ma’am you have to deplane now with no explanation.I have bruises, blisters, swollen hands as they refused to give me back my assistive device(stroller) to walk back down 2 ramps and wait for 1.5 hours for a ride home.My pet never barked or whined not once but I was under emotional distress and physical pain. The crew was laughing as I left and as I apologized to the 2 rows in front of me they agreed that we did nothing wrong.We were both abused and they violated so many federal laws. I was flying to see my ill father.Let me just say that this is not over!