‘The Lavatory Is Not Your Litter Box’: Southwest Boots Passenger After Kitten’s Accident—Then Lets Them Fly Anyway

by Gary Leff

A Southwest Airlines passenger’s 7-month-old kitten had a potty accident after getting scared during a rough landing. She cleaned up the mess, but the crew on the continuing flight segment closed the lavatory due to the smell, confronted her, and removed them from their next flight on the same aircraft.

Alex’s 7-month-old kitten Oni became scared and had an accident in his carrier. She took Oni to the bathroom to clean up. She disposed of the used paper towels in the lavatory trash.

After she reboarded the same plane for her connection, the new crew had closed the bathroom. onfronted, she explained the kitten’s accident and their efforts to clean up, and promised to take Oni to the bathroom hourly with a portable litter box to prevent further issues. Alex says she was told, “The bathroom is not your litter box.” Alex cried.

A Southwest Airlines agent her and told her that crew wanted her removed from the flight. She was taken off the aircraft, rebooked on a later flight, and was given a $200 voucher. She got back to L.A. over 7 hours later than scheduled. During the layover she rationed cat litter and food in an airport family bathroom.

The airline has every right to remove someone if they believe the passenger brought a safety or hygienic hazard. But I’m not sure what they accomplished here. Southwest Airlines still flew the passenger they just made her take a later flight.

Other pets have had mishaps without such drastic outcomes for the passenger. This year a dog pooped in the aisle of a United flight and the plane actually diverted. And a dog went on the seat of an American Airlines flight, which just continued its journey.

It really seems like the dog’s owner should be liable to the airline for extra costs – and to the rest of the passengers for the inconvenience.

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 »

More articles by Gary Leff »

Comments

  2. What a great microcosm for society and governance. Treat things (and others) as you want to be treated is one philosophy. Ban, exile, scapegoat, vilify, dehumanize, and exterminate is another. Nothing wrong with pets, children, disabled people, brown folks, foreigners, gays, or any group on planes. Stop generalizing. Treat others and shared spaces better. Have decency. Or, advocate violence just out of spite. As long as the oligarchs get more money, it’s all good, right?

  3. What seems to be the problem? The kitten pooped inside the carrier. The owner took it to the lavatory to clean its carrier. The crew should have given her a trash bag so that the owner can put all trash inside the plastic bag and then tie it up and dispose it in the trash container- it would stop the odor. Accidents happen. Babies’ poop can stink up the entire plane and those dirty diapers are tossed inside the lav as well. Is that a hazard? Adults wear Depends on flights and I’ve flown where a lav had to be locked because the odor was so bad and the Depends did NOT fit inside the trash so it was put inside a trash bag and left on the floor. Did that flight divert? No. Was the passenger booted off the plane? No.

  4. Seems to me a cleaning crew should have been immediately called to clean the toilet. Things happen, with babies, people and pets. The airlines are used to this. This should have not been a big deal. The crew was simply trying to “punish” the woman.

  5. People need to stop bringing there pets on airline flights. This is getting out of hand. Ridiculous!!!!

  6. In this situation, the passenger didn’t appear to break any airline rules. If you allow pets on flights in carriers, you have to assume these kinds of accidents can happen.

    I don’t have a pet, but the unavoidable fact is that pet ownership is skyrocketing, so pets flying on airlines is also skyrocketing. Airlines need to actually come up with consistent policies to deal with this rather than these ad hoc reactions

  7. She looks like the type of unemployed young person that drags a cat around with her everywhere she goes. Her mistake was not claiming it to be a service animal.

  10. I think I would have been more understanding towards the passenger if I was an F/A on that flight. Accidents happen.

  11. Gary loves “animal flew and bad happened” stories. @Sonya nailed it. Poop stinks, whether from Depends, Pampers, or cat litter. FA could, if they care, greet a passenger: “hi, if you need to dispose of any waste, just let me know and I’ll provide a separate bag, so we can fly odor-free today. Thanks for flying with us today.” punitive policies aren’t necessary. Anti-animal policies to please the Anti-animal people aren’t necessary either. Why can’t people take initiative and de-escalate?

  13. CHRIS – a quick click through to her X account reveals she is an OnlyFans model, so I wouldn’t call her “unemployed,” more like a self employed contractor…

  14. Airline CEOs need to grow a pair and say no more service animals unless there’s a doctor’s document. If you can’t stand to be away from Fido or Tabby stay home.

  16. People are commenting that animals should not be allowed on commercial flights. Unfortunately what is the difference if a baby poops his diaper and stinks up the whole cabin and then continues to cry for hours on end? Just because it’s a kitten and not a human child the standards seem to be different. Poop is poop. Clean it up and move on. Grow up people.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *