Woman Has Fellow Plane Passenger Booted Off Flight Since Her Service Dog Would Aggravate Her Allergies
She was called "heartless" by other passengers.
Shine Caramia / Martin Lauge Villadsen / Jag_c2 / Shutterstock As a woman boarded a flight with her friends for their upcoming vacation, she noticed another passenger getting on with their service dog. The woman became concerned about the dog’s presence due to her allergies and alerted flight attendants.
The passenger and her service dog were ultimately denied entry onto the flight, which caused other passengers to turn against the vacationing woman. Now, she wonders if she was in the wrong and if she should have caught a different flight.
The woman was concerned a fellow passenger's service dog would aggravate her allergies.
Sharing her story to the subreddit, r/AmITheA–hole, the woman reveals that she has a “severe” dog allergy that could result in serious illness if she is too close to one.
“I can have varying disease of severity when it comes to my reactions when I'm exposed to dogs. In short, being in a closed environment with a dog is out of the question,” she wrote.
The woman had planned a vacation with her friends, and they all booked the same flight so they could travel together. Their trip was a quick flight that would only take about an hour. As the woman was boarding the plane, she saw that another passenger was traveling with their Golden Retriever service animal, indicated by the dog’s “Guide Dog” vest.
Photo: Belish / Shutterstock
Since the woman claims that she cannot be in a confined space with a dog due to her allergies, she alerted a flight attendant, telling them that she could “end up in the hospital” if she had to fly with a dog on board.
The flight attendant informed the dog’s owner of the woman’s allergies. However, she revealed that she could not rebook a different flight.
The dog’s owner was flying to visit a sick relative.
The woman shared that the passenger with the dog “went into hysterics” after she was asked by a flight attendant to consider taking a different flight since she was visiting a sick family member.
The flight attendant returned to the woman and asked her if she would like to catch the next flight that was leaving in a couple of hours instead, even offering her a first-class seat if she chose to do so.
“I said that unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to do this, since I'd paid for my vacation,” the woman wrote. “The woman started insulting my character, saying that I was ‘heartless’ for putting my vacation over her sick family member.”
The woman ultimately ended up boarding the plane while the passenger and her service dog were forced to book a different flight.
As she sat down next to her friends, a passenger nearby who overheard the confrontation called her “the biggest [expletive] they’ve ever met.”
“My friends haven't said I'm in the wrong but have kept making sarcastic jokes about the situation,” the woman wrote.
The woman asked other Redditors if she was in the wrong in the situation. Most people believed that the woman was wrong and that she had no right to expect a passenger with their service dog to accommodate her.
“Both you and the woman paid for your spot on the flight, so you are no more entitled to your seat than she is to hers,” one user commented.
“The woman paid for her ticket just as you did and has EVERY right to be on the flight with her service animal and if you had a problem with it you needed to remove yourself from the situation. Not demand that she was removed,” another user pointed out.
Others also called the woman ‘selfish’ for believing that her vacation was more important than her fellow passenger’s sick relative.
“You'd have missed a few hours of vacation, whereas that woman's relative might not have had two extra hours to live. You are selfish and an [expletive],” one user wrote.
“The airline offered you a perfectly reasonable accommodation for the two-hour delay. Assuming the woman is sincere, her need to be on the flight was greater than yours,” another user noted.
Other people pointed out that the woman should have alerted the airline about her severe allergy so that they could work together to book her an appropriate flight with no dogs on board.
Service animals are allowed on most aircraft.
Most airlines are required to allow service animals and emotional support animals on board flights if they are traveling with disabled individuals. However, they may require specific documentation to ensure that the animal is cleared to fly and that they are controlled and leashed.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, airlines cannot refuse service animals on board because they make other passengers and crew members uncomfortable.
So if you have an allergy or are just not a fan of dogs, you should maybe consider driving in the privacy and comfort of your own car rather than a public aircraft.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.