In a sense, the title says it all. And the picture above. But can anyone justify Delta downgrading a first class passenger in order to accommodate a rotund woman traveling with her “service” animal and four carry-on bags?! Make it make sense…
Delta Downgrades First Class Passenger Because Plus-Sized Woman With Service Dog And FOUR Carry-On Bags Needed Extra Space…
Per View From The Wing, the incident occurred on a Delta Connection flight to Detroit (DTW), on a Bombardier CRJ-900 jet (DL4306 from Pellston, MI [PLN] operated by SkyWest).
View From The Wing says the passenger “had registered it with the airline as a service animal – but it clearly wasn’t.” I’m not sure how we determine that based only on the picture above, but I do think the dog problem is out of control on US airlines.
The woman was assigned seat 2A, but onboard found that she and her dog did not fit (that’s why her size was mentioned). So the flight attendant told her to move across the aisle and take both 2C and 2D (seating is 1-2 in first class).
The passenger who was in 2C boarded and was told she had to take 2A. But then the passenger who had 2D boarded. He was given 1C. Then the passenger who had 1C boarded and was told there was no first-class seat for him.
The first class passenger in 1C was “involuntarily downgraded to a comfort-plus seat” which is extra-legroom coach.
So a woman with a dog and four bags can occupy a second first class seat for free on Delta, forcing another passenger to downgrade to economy class?
And you wonder why I harp on the absurdity of our current system?
Unlike View From The Wing, I am willing to grant that this is a service dog. That’s because the US government has made it absurdly easy to call your pet a service dog and airlines are not allowed to question it. So let’s call it service dog.
Even so, the extra bags are ridiculous.
Even so, federal rules say the dog must still it within your legroom space.
Here, a passenger was not just allowed to spread out in a cabin and take an extra seat (something we all do if there are open seats available), but boot out another first class passenger.
It was wrong and Delta owes the poor passenger originally assigned to 1C a lot of compensation. It’s far more about the indignity of the downgrade than the price paid for the premium cabin seat.
Delta should also use this as a fulcrum to better enforce its own baggage policy and push the federal government to give airlines more discretion in verifying whether a service dog is actually a service dog (as Disney is now doing at its theme parks to cut down on rampant abuse…).
If you want more room for you and your pet, buy an extra seat.
image: View From The Wing
Premium treatment from a premium airline
the conservative in me is OUTRAGED
+1 absolutely deplorable
Porky the pig should have been denied boarding if she couldn’t fit into the seat she paid for
Mathew, you just a honky cracker. Can’t stand to see a Black woman get ahead. You a racist peace of trash.
Relax LaTasha, This female knew she would get her way because of her ethnicity, gender, and using an animal to give her 1st class with out spending the money to sit in 1st. She doesn’t care about anyone else and she certainly has no respect for herself being large. And yes weight can be managed through diet and exercise. It’s called self respect. Tons of scammers out there.
Wow!! How do you know her intentions and her disabilities based on a picture and very short article? As for her weight. Do you know what her medical records say? I’m 63 and have a service dog. As I look at the picture there is no misbehavor going on with the service dog. Check your attitude! Be respectful.
WHAT!,
*LaTrasha
You are the racist pos. Get off the plane.
I think “LaTasha” is just trolling everybody…..and funny.
Latasha, How in the world do you view this as a black woman getting ahead? Learn to spell. And do some research to the meaning of both “honky” and “cracker”. It’s derogatory to black people more so. Thus making you the racist.
The service dog thing is becoming a wide spread scam. I see posts on social media instructing people on how to game the system. Eventually, the airlines will need to tighten up restrictions for animals in the main cabin. As for the bags, she like had to check the majority as a gate check. The bins on the CRJ’s are a joke, but who knows, maybe this entitled “woman” got on early and grabbed a good chunk of bin space.
People who can’t leave their “””emotional support””” pets at home and defraud the airlines and fellow passengers are pathetic. If you’re so attached to your pet that you can’t leave them at home with a sitter or at a kennel while you’re gone, you have serious mental problems.
Real service animals, maybe. MAYBE. But I can’t say that there are non-animal medical devices that do the same job as the legit service animal 99.9% of the time or I’ll get cancelled because of woke. I don’t think animals should be allowed on planes period, frankly.
I don’t think a medical device will pull you back from an oncoming car.
There are real service animals that folks need to interact with the public. My son-in-law is retired military and has Dexter his service dog. Dex has served him well protecting both him and the public from the things he hrought back from military service.
You will know a proper service animal by the attitude they show to their handler. Always alert, always reactive to suroundings and vigilant. A emotional support animal is just a pet.
Good job!!! I’m a veteran with 100% disabilities. I have a service dog and I ABSOLUTELY NEED MY SERVICE DOG WITH ME AT ALL TIMES. I would love it for someone to try to separate me from him. This is why the ADA was put into law. To stop stupid uneducated people pushing their beliefs on others.
Horrible in all ways but do you know if the passenger that was downgraded had a paid first class ticket or was upgraded based on status? I am asking because you said Delta owes the passenger compensation but if the upgrade was just a perk from his status I don’t think he will see a dime. Lesson learned: if you are allowed to board first, do it. If the passenger had take his seat he wouldn’t probably be asked to move.
I don’t know – and I tend to agree that Delta will probably come up with an excuse to avoid compensation.
Even so, I think Delta owes this person a BIG chunk of compensation for what happened.
Alas, what should happen versus what will happen are two different things.
“ Even so, I think Delta owes this person a BIG chunk of compensation for what happened.”
Somehow I doubt he wants a roll in the hay with her.
Or the downgraded person may have been a ‘Non-Rev’ (an off duty airline employee flying for free).
Even that is unacceptable? So if I need a second seat I should gain weight, bring four bags, and a dog?
Didn’t you benefit from lax carryon allowance enforcement on your way back from Ukraine by being in Mint? It seems being in business class may have also afforded this woman a similar allowance of “whatever you show up to the gate with”, though in this case it was a dog and double the baggage allowance.
The rolled up piece of art was a third item, but I would have gladly checked my carry-on bag if asked and it did not require an extra seat.
That’s fair. Not trying to take away from the egregious behavior here nor the poor handling by the airline staff (but at least I follow your blog and pay attention!)
It seems like the issue in these instances is such a heavy focus on operational performance and the first opportunity anyone at the airline has to notice an issue is at the gate with no time to deal with this.
The FA in this instance seemed to just play musical chairs to try to get the flight out on time instead of calling the agent down right away to sort out the seating issue. It seems like the rule enforcement for nearly anything goes right out the window if it means taking a delay these days.
I don’t know, man… This sounds made up. I’m not calling Gary a liar, but the passenger in 1C does have photographic evidence of him running around with his pants on fire.
Seriously though… There’s got to be more to the store than we’re being told.
We’ve reached out to Delta…I’ll update story if there is a response.
The thing is, Gary doesn’t source this incident to anyone or another site. He just posted the pic and the story. Not even mentioning something like “A reader reached out to me via email about…” or anything like that. Or even mentioning that Gary himself was on the flight and saw it happen. It’s just based on a picture. If it is real and did happen, he should provide the source.
There are very real issues with how Gary sources his stories. In more than one case his sources have been dubious to questionable or his has grossly misrepresented what they were actually saying.
For example he continues to claim that pilots are logging balloon time towards the 1500 hour rule in his rants against it despite having previously admitted he knows it’s not true.
Agree with all the outrage, but as far as her being “plus-sized” she barely gets an honorable mention compared to some of the “truly huge” we’ve seen photos of trying to squeeze onto airplanes lately.
Sucks for people that really need service dogs to get where they need to go. The base alloy of this story is if you can’t fit into the seat you booked, you should be given the choice to purchase enough space (another seat) or leave the aircraft.
Why wasn’t she given two economy seats I wonder instead of two first? The emotional support animal, fish, insect, flower or whatever is just way out of control because there is no control over it. Maybe this was just DL trying to mitigate the situation before the passenger freaks out, makes a scene and then causes the flight to be delayed / cancelled? Passenger removed from F definitely deserves compensation for being removed from his seat. Maybe if you want to get free upgrades to first class, just be obese? You won’t even need elite status! Just be fat.
I was in FC DL carrying purse and roller bag and my coat . Told could not board as I can 3 carryons ! Had to put my coat on to board. I see people with 3 or 4 carryons every time I fly and they get to board with no issues!,!
@Dee: I fly over 100k miles with Delta every year. What you described will vary depending on how by the book the gate agent is. I have seen people being asked to place one of these little crossbody slings inside their carry on because they consider that a 3rd item. Others bring their home with them and the gate agent ignores. I always try to follow the rules since I do not want to have any interaction with gate agents but I have seen it all. Same in Europe. I bought an EU size carry on just to avoid issues but I feel stupid when I see what people bring onboard with them in intra Europe flights.
Feel your pain. I travel with underseat roller and backpack. Loop a small crossbody to hold passport and phone/boarding pass because it’s easier to retrieve for security and boarding. Bag only big enough for phone with credit card tucked in pocket case and passport. Have had GAs ask me to stow bag in my backpack which involves taking off backpack and dropping it in. Now carry shawl to drape over the bag….
Once when I was departing from Oakland, 97 service dogs in training, each one with a trainer walked through the terminal and boarded a plane. Not a one of them barked or got distracted from their training. It was a beautiful site. Probably the highlight of that vacation.
The only time I ever flew with an animal was a cat I rescued. She did not like strangers including me. I kept her under the seat in a soft regulation carrier and she never uttered a sound. That first night back with her owner’s daughter she slept under the covers with her.
Some animals are ok in the cabin. Better behaved than some of the human passengers.
That’s so amazing you got to see all those dogs in training. I am so happy to hear that was your highlight.
Twinkle, I agree, often the “pet” “service animal” is far less obnoxious and better behaved than the owner. How many open seats were there in coach on this particular flight.
I would think it would be better to shuffle coach seats around than to downgrade fc, but nobody wants to have to write a delay message so whatever option is the quickest often wins.
Just wrong, if she wanted additional room she should have paid for first class. I’m getting tried of people wanting something for free. The dog if needed is fine–however they do just as good in coach or whatever class you pay foe.
She had paid for first class, hadn’t she?
Disability fraud is fraud and should be criminalized – and the fraudsters should be banned.
Sorry. She looks pregnant, not just a customer of size. So I guess this means those eating for two get 2 seats?
How many passengers must be displaced for one with a questionable disability, four carry on bags and a dog?
And the solution was so simple. Everybody go back to original seats but her. The pax in comfort+ with the empty seat next to them (the seat the downgraded F pax was assigned) moves to her F seat. She gets two comfort+ seats for her and her pet.
How do we know if she had status? Maybe 1c was an upgrade. Airlines have fought for years to get rid of emotional support animals and DOJ finally helped with that issue. ADA protects service dogs (as they should) so good luck with that.
How long must we wait for Congress to direct the FAA to provide meaningful guidance on ‘service animals’?
I’m just waiting for a “service” dog to tear up a child or viciously attack a seatmate. Sadly, it will take something serious like that.
My husband and I went on vacation and paid for comfort plus seating with Delta, they downgraded us at the last minute. They never compensated us and refused to reimburse money paid for those seats, which were about $350 more each seat. No matter what chain I took for complaints it just didn’t matter. We refuse to ever fly on Delta due to their dishonesty. All I wanted was a reimbursement of the difference of comfort plus and coach, which was fair because that is what I got-nothing else.
“We refuse to ever fly on Delta due to their dishonesty”
I hear this so many times on the Internet but honestly I’ve never met someone IRL who really refuses to use a normal non-budget carrier that either these people fly so infrequently they can appear to do this or in fact this is simply what people say in the moment and 3,6, 12 months later they’ll grudgingly book the carrier
While I agree with everything in this article on normal flights… Anyone who has ever flown via Pellston airport knows how small of an operation it is and how TINY the planes are. The airport looks like a log cabin, only has one of everything (check in counter, security line, bathroom, etc). I think during the summer months they up the flight schedule to 3 flights a day to accommodate tourists.
But back to the planes…The only advantage of “First class” is that you can get water/juice while you wait for takeoff. The flight is only ~30 min so there’s no other services. The might be a couple inches wider than coach, but there’s essentially no difference.
I realize given the lack of actual perks from first class most people probably think she should’ve just been given an extra seat in coach. However, I brought up the airport size because a lot of people miss their flights there due to 1. Underestimating how long it takes to get to the middle of nowhere, 2. They don’t realize the small airport lacks staff and moves very slowly, and the plane isn’t obligated to wait for them. I’m guessing that’s why the flight attendant just kept moving people as they boarded.
TLDR; flying thru this airport isn’t a normal airport experience, and the planes are tiny. Normal operations don’t really apply and not knowing the full story, they should probably be given a small break in this one
Actually, that’s just not true. One hundred percent of Delta flights to Pellston since retirement of the CRJ-200 (which you basically describe) have been 700s or 900s. Most (maybe 75%, but closer to 100% in the summer) are CRJ-900s. You get a pre-departure beverage, including alcohol. Most of the flights serve at least one if not two rounds of drinks en route to Detroit. The better FAs also do at least two passes of the snack basket. One on the ground and one in the air.
Before you make ignorant ‘that’s not a service dog’ comments like most of you are, know that a service dog goes beyond a seeing eye dog or medical alert dog. It’s legal to have a service dog for tactile stimulation who sits on your lap to calm you during panic attacks. It’s not a scam and it’s allowed. You don’t know the situation so stop judging.
The four carry ons being allowed should be your grievance here, not the dog.
Tactile stimulation to survive a panic attack? Please take some meds and read a book If you need to pet a dog to survive being in public, being in a closed tube at 30,000 feet with no way to get off in the middle of a flight is probably not the best environment for you. Maybe when service dogs were few and far fetched, I would buy it. but now everyone seems to need some exception for whatever reason. Funny how when these people are at home playing fortnite in their mom’s basement or sitting on the couch watching tiktok videos the dog is nowhere to be seen or outside running around, but the minute that they have to travel somewhere the “service” animal is needed. Give me a break
There is no service being done (guidance, medical alert, etc) other than the dog sitting near the person; nothing a stuffed monkey couldn’t do the job of.
Last week, I flew DTW-LAX on DL in First. I was in second row, and the couple in front of me at bulkhead were both at least 400 lbs. They clearly were placed there because of their weight, because they were baffled as to why they had to stow their carry-on items in the overhead on take off.
The guy in front of me nearly broke his seat several times during flight as he shifted around and plopped down. It was like watching TV during a non-stop earthquake. Prior to landing, the FA asked me stow my items in my under seat bag in front of me. But he had reclined his seat and it went back WAY further due to his weight, and I couldn’t even reach my bag. I politely asked him to move his seat up so that I could get my bag and prepare for landing, and without turning around, he just grunted “No!” Count me among those who are not a fan of accommodating people at the expense of others.
Our only hope is that heart disease and hypertension claims them first.
This sounds like another clickbait article from Gary. How do you even board with 4 carry-ons AND a dog while traveling solo? How would that even work logistically? Did she strap the 4 carry-ons together in tandem? And also how do you get 4 carry-ons past the gate agent? Something is rotten in Denmark.
This is not a story, someone is venting and calling it journalism. #cringe #author
Also, non-revs and complimentary upgrades can and will be downgraded for a paying customer,
So since you don’t know the actual story, just shut the [redacted] up.
So you know the story?
So a fat woman with four bags and a pet dog can just lay claim to a second seat?
You’re a tool, J.
Fat people are so gross. They are an inconvenience to everyone around them and a blight on the national healthcare system.
I would gladly give up my seat for anyone with a service animal. It’s not up to me to justify!!