Airline Passenger Asks If She Should Expect Compensation After Exotic Birds ‘Screamed And Squawked’ The Entire 14-Hour Flight
Not the kind of the thing you would expect during a flight.
Anna Tarazevich | Pexels Of all the things passengers fear they will have to deal with on planes, such as crying babies and rough turbulence, a flock of loud exotic birds is likely not one they anticipate.
However, that was exactly what one American Airlines passenger and her husband had to endure during a 14-hour flight.
Now, the woman wonders if the situation is worth seeking compensation for.
The passenger claims that a group of exotic birds being transported in cargo ‘screamed and squawked’ the entire flight.
Sharing her rather remarkable flight experience on the subreddit r/americanairlines, the woman shared that she and her husband recently flew from Miami to Doha, Qatar. The entire trip takes about 14 hours. The woman and her husband were seated in Business Class.
Digital Vision. | Canva Pro
While she claimed that the flight and staff were incredible, she never could have predicted the one disadvantage of the trip.
“The plane was perfect and the service was fantastic. BUT there [were] a... ton of exotic birds being transported in cargo directed below us,” the woman wrote. “I don’t know how many, but the crew said it was ‘a lot.’”
“Those birds screamed and squawked the entire 14 hours.”
Even though the woman put in earplugs, she says she could still hear the birds and couldn’t get much sleep.
While there is no confirmation as to what kind of species the birds were, it is safe to assume that they sounded something like this:
The passenger asked other Redditors if she should request compensation for the unusual disturbance.
Like the woman, most people were perplexed about how an airline company would even handle a situation like this for passengers who were seeking compensation.
However, some concluded that the woman could not ask much from the company, given that they had no control over how much noise the birds made.
“You're owed nothing. Win some. Lose some. Move along. Nothing to see here,” one Redditor commented.
“Two babies in the row right behind me screamed for an entire 3.5-hour flight. I assumed this was just bad luck, but does this entitle me to compensation from American Airlines?” another user noted.
However, others believed it couldn’t hurt to reach out just to find out if something could be done to make up for the bad flight experience.
While American Airlines may compensate travelers for delays and cancellations depending on the circumstances, compensation for exotic birds being too loud is not included anywhere in their policies.
Some things that happen on planes are completely out of anyone’s control, and while they can be irritating, we simply have to deal with them.
However, the next time you book a flight, you may want to ask ahead of time if there will be any potentially loud exotic creatures riding along with you!
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.