Tag Archives for emotional support animal.
A blind passenger boarded a Delta flight with a seeing-eye dog, only to face complaints from another couple claiming their own dog was a service animal and could not sit nearby. What followed was a familiar modern airline mess: a real working dog, a likely fake one, and a dispute not just over where the animals should sit, but over who got to use the blind passenger’s underseat space.
A Spirit Airlines passenger carried a rotisserie chicken through TSA security in a clear pet backpack, claiming it was his “emotional support animal”—then proceeded to enjoy it onboard, leaving passengers amused, staff stunned, and TSA officially unfazed.
A Southwest Airlines passenger says the carrier refused to let her service dog fly for free after staff claimed the dog had an “accident” in the terminal. She disputes that anything happened and says Southwest told her she’d need to pay a $150 pet fee and place the dog in a carrier instead.
A United Airlines passenger, being dubbed a ‘Karen’, brought her dog to the galley of a Boeing 787. When a flight attendant reprimanded her – the dog can’t be in the food prep area – the woman defended the choice to bring him there: “He needs to do potty!”
The passenger felt that because the dog was wearing a diaper that made it o.k. to walk him through the aircraft, including the galley. And she got stern with the crewmember: “I don’t appreciate you taking that tone with me.”
We sat and waited for operations to find us a new gate to return to. Once we were back and the aircraft doors were opened, a Delta red coat supervisor came on board. It was explained she’d need to come off the aircraft to discuss the situation. She gathered her belongings and got off the plane.
Plot twist: a few minutes later, the woman and her dog returned to the aircraft. She was being allowed to fly, after all.
An American Airlines first class passenger took to social media to brag on his dog’s first flight. Sure, he says, the pet “took a poop in the parking garage” but once firmly ensconced on the floor of the carrier’s first class cabin, he knew it was going to be a great flight.
A passenger on a South Africa flight found a dog occupying his leg space for the entire journey. There was nothing he could do about it, so he just drank. “My dad is on a long flight back from South Africa and mentioned he’s had about 40 screwdrivers. When I asked why, he sent me this,” adding “the 40 drinks deep and 20 hours is an exaggeration btw. I think the actual flight is 16 to 18 hours.”
When Juanie boarded her Delta Air Lines flight, she found that she was seated next to a woman who had a pitbull sitting in her seat. The woman asked Juanie to give up the seat for her pitbull – and, Juanie says, the dog owner became aggressive when she declined.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a passenger book more than one seat for their animal before. Yet here is a man traveling with his dog. He has one seat, the great dane has two. And the dog needed every inch of it.
Throughout this cross country flight to New York JFK on an American Airlines Airbus A321T, the 140 pound pup stood up, sat down, napped, and interacted with the rest of the cabin.
Here’s an adorable little dog flying American Airlines. But there is no way it is a service animal, and a pet in cabin (that requires paying a pet in cabin fee) must remain in their carrier under the seat for the duration of the flight.
Service animals aren’t ‘pets for someone with emotional challenges’ they are trained working animals.
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 »
