Passenger Banned From Flying After Refusing To Sit Next To A ‘Dangerous’ Service Dog
Other people were eager to take her seat next to the working service dog.
24k-Production, Sourav Mishra / CanvaPro Millions of people rely on their service animals to provide support in various scenarios — from diverse help with mental illness to medical alerts in times of distress.
Outside of other service animals, there are more than 500,000 active service dogs in the United States today. For some, navigating daily life would be impossible (and dangerous) without them.
However, despite the public's knowledge of their importance, there’s been a great deal of discourse about the presence of service animals on airplanes — a relatively confined space with many (usually irritable) people. While it’s typically a discussion of waste or allergies, a recent video showed a woman refusing to sit next to a “dangerous” service dog assisting its owner — sparking outrage in the comments.
The woman was banned from flying after refusing to sit next to another passenger’s ‘dangerous’ service dog.
“I’m upset right now and having a panic attack,” the woman casually said, “but I don’t have a dog jumping up on me.”
As a nearby camera captured the heated argument between a woman and another passenger with a service dog, a flight attendant stepped in to mediate. The woman standing started to berate the other sitting down, angry that her service dog was allowed to assist her by jumping partially onto the owner’s lap.
Despite the service animal not touching her at all, the woman was outraged and refused to sit next to the dog.
While the service dog helped its owner relax, the woman continued arguing with flight attendants about her history of ‘dogs attacking her.’
“I do not feel safe. You can have a panic attack, but I have to sit here with my life being threatened by that [expletive] dog?”
As the woman continued to yell and attract the attention of nearby passengers, it became clear that the root of this argument was fear. Many people have dealt with trauma from animals or attacks in their lives, but this woman named “the killing nature” of the German Shepherd service dog as the reason for her outrage.
Photo: irynakhabliuk / Canva Pro
“I have a history of those dogs attacking me. It jumped up on her … how do I know it’s not going to jump on me?” the distraught woman questioned. The flight attendant tried to de-escalate the encounter, advocating for the service dog and its necessity on the flight.
After trying to invalidate the passenger’s ‘medical illness,’ she eventually swapped seats with another passenger, but not before being banned from future flights.
As other passengers urged the flight attendant to “get her off the plane,” another woman from the next row stood up to offer her another seat. As she made her way back, she continued to spew harmful comments at the woman and her service dog.
Commenters suggested the whole situation could've been handled respectfully if this woman simply requested a seat change; however, she instead decided to degrade and guilt this woman and her dog for simply existing.
“I hope that dog [expletive] you,” she yelled. “You are a healthy person; you clearly don’t need the dog. I hope it [expletive] your future children in their sleep.”
Photo: FatCamera / CanvaPro
After trying to invalidate the need for this passenger's service dog, making threats, and disrupting the peace of the airplane, commenters were shocked that this woman wasn’t immediately kicked off the flight. However, as the flight attendant indicated in the video, this woman wouldn’t see the inside of another plane for quite some time.
Of course, there’s a larger discussion about airport safety in general, but the majority of comments suggested that this woman’s need for a service animal is of utmost importance.
Nobody should feel that their illness is being trivialized because it’s not “outwardly present,” and they surely shouldn’t feel unsafe for having to bring a service dog onto an aircraft to meet their needs.
“This poor lady and her dog looked so upset and uncomfortable. I’m so glad that the people around her and the flight staff came to her defense.”
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a news and entertainment writer at YourTango, focusing on pop culture analysis and human interest stories.