I’m not prepared to join the chorus in condemning a team of flight attendants at Southwest Airlines for kicking off a woman when her dog would not stop making noise. Sometimes there is sufficient cause to justify preemptive action against a loud dog onboard and that may have been the case here.
Woman Thrown Off Southwest Airlines Flight For Loud Dog
We have video and we have the account of one passengers. Let’s start with the passenger account:
Met this lady in the boarding line today @Southwest Airlines She flew out to Colorado Springs to pick up her new little puppy and fly her back home to CA. The puppy was whining a little and the flight attendant boarding everyone walked up to her and said, if your dogs doesn’t be quiet, you may not be able to fly. She sticks her hand in the soft carrier and pets the puppy. It stopped whining. We board the plane and she has the carrier in her lap still petting the puppy when the same flight attendant came up and said the carrier needed to be zipped completely and put under the seat. Everyone around us was like, what’s going on here!? Another flight attendant, dressed as a cat comes up and says “are we going to have a problem here!?” The lady does as she is told and we start to taxi to the runway. The dog gave a very soft whine, so she leaned over and started petting it from the outside of the carrier but right at mesh. All the attendants got in a group at the front of the plane and decided we needed to return to the gate and that she should be removed from the flight.
Here’s the accompanying video:
I’m going to make a wager here that the dog was very loud. A little whimper here and there is unlikely to attract the attention of a flight attendant. But “whining a little” probably means whining a lot and that disturbance for other passengers is not justified. A dog is not a human being and if a dog is not well-behaved, it does not belong on a plane.
Now I certainly have compassion for the woman trying to take her puppy home to California. But if the dog could not stop whining and was just a pup in a mesh container, I’d have to imagine the little fellow would be highly prone to having an accident on the flight. Without diapers (yes, there are dog diapers), I don’t see the situation ending well.
Now if the flight attendants were rude, I will not defend that. There is never an excuse to be rude. But if they made a call that the dog was unpredictable and could create a huge disturbance onboard, I’m far more sympathetic.
CONCLUSION
A woman was thrown off of her Southwest Airlines flight when her dog would not quiet down. It’s not clear to me if the ejection was reasonable, but I am not going to say it was or was not at this point.
The drive from Colorado Springs to California is a long one, but maybe she should have driven instead…?
(Hat Tip: View From The Wing)
You are right, a dog is not a human
A dog is better
“But if the dog could not stop whining and was just a pup in a mesh container, I’d have to imagine the little fellow would be highly prone to having an accident on the flight.”
Yes, I suppose you would have to imagine that, since it has no basis in reality. You can just say you agree with the flight attendants without trying to make up a justification based on something regarding which you clearly have no knowledge.
Buy a trip with Greyhound.
As it is hard to believe a little whine could cause so much fuss, I think there might be more of a backstory here.
Also for those that need to move a pet there are professional transport services. Not inexpensive but reliable and safe.
Now if we could just get them to start kicking off the whining little seat kickers too!
Is there no common sense here???! There was no problem until that [redacted by admin] flight attendant made it one!
Why would the pilot even stop & turn around So unfair to the woman & all the others on the plane
BOYCOTT SOUTHWEST!!!! They SUCK!!!!
Bias is the problem here. The writer showed bias towards the puppy who let out a “little whine”. I’m sure that was not the case and the couple sitting next to “Karen” were dog lovers. Had the lady given some medication to the dog to relax, it would have been fine and quiet.
As an asthmatic, I say no pets on the plane…..
Yes, we have the same issue. Severe Asthma. We ask at the gate how many (up to six) cats and dogs are on the flight and please allow us the courtesy of not sitting next to them. SWA has always been good about this as have the pet owners, often sitting in the back og the plane. They have a policy and the attendant was doing his job, period. And please do not compare this to a baby crying. Have some common sense (other comments here). An 8 week old puppy will most likely have uncontrolled potty incidents if they are already whining on the tarmac. Thank you for your comment.
Matthew, I don’t think a dog is as important as a person. But if you can kick out a passenger because the dog is crying, the same should apply to babies. I don’t think that you should kick out a creature that has no control of what it is doing, and if you MUST travel with your pet, than you should have the right. Respectfully, I believe your lack of “taste” for dogs is clouding your judgment.
Just what is the justification for allowing people to bring all forms of livestock and animals onto an airplane? Emotional support? Either get it together or find another form of transportation. The only way an animal (dog, cat, etc) should be on an airplane is if they are put into the cargo area underneath the passenger cabin.
Sadly, SWA does not allow animals in cargo at all. The cat or dog must be at least 8 weeks old and able to fit in a specific size carrier. Only six pets per flight. The pet carrier counts as a personal item. If you open the carrier at any time once you enter the gate area, they can refuse to let you board. If your pet is noisy, they can refuse to let you board. It costs $95 for a pet like this. A service animal (for the blind) counts as a passenger and must have a ticket to board. No one can refuse a service animal. Rule are rules. They are made for the good of the whole.
What the hell is with airlines in America and being so willing to just kick people off flights? I’ve flown a lot of airlines across pretty much every continent (obviously not even close to the amount that you have Matthew) and this is just NOT a thing I’ve observed anywhere else.
Are we Americans particularly obnoxious, or are the flight attendants just especially trigger happy? Maybe a bit of both?
Labor unions making it impossible to fire the turds are the reason for this
Get rid of the unions. Especially Sara Nelson
Unions are what made this country, gave workng class fair wages and safe working conditions. Moron. As an airline employee, the Union is necessary still for same reason. I hope you’re on my flight one day, I’d love to toss you off the flight.
Respectfully, because unions were once necessary is hardly a reason that they remain necessary. This country was also built on coal, but few would agree that it’s the best possible power source today. That said, it would be pretty hard to argue with the deal the pilots unions got at all the airlines.
And i would love to have you arrested,fa, and then sue your airline for theft of services.
Fas like you are what is wrong with airlines
Oooooh look out everyone, we’ve got some kind of hard case here. Give a little person a little authority and you wind up with a big problem.
How about you just stick to shutting the overhead bins before we push, bringing drink cart around and collecting the trash? You’re not a hero or a police officer, you’re a service industry worker. So calm down.
Many years ago I wasw seated on a UA flight up front and this little dog seated on a woman’s lap was yapping very loudly. She was warned once by the flight attendant and the woman said the tranquillizer hadn’t kicked in yet. Approaching the runway the pilot asked the FA whether the dog had stopped barking. The FA was about to tell the pilot no (he clearly would have returned the plane to the gate) when the dog keeled over and went quiet. The dog was louder than a baby crying.
If it’s a puppy then driving would not go well either. It will basically get car sick the whole way. Would prob need to be sedated.
Perhaps they don’t have this service anymore, but perhaps the animal could have been put into the cargo hold. Yes, that’s a painful way for a puppy to go through a flight but it would have solved the problem.
That being said, passengers should be held responsible for their animals and I daresay children’s behavior. Before my 4 year old daughter had her first flight, I took her to the airport and gave her a full tour. I explained everything that was going to happen, what was expected of her and others, and she was excited to go and we had a donut in the airport cafe before going home to fly out later.
Let her figure out a regimen to quiet the puppy (tranquilizer) but also other means to sooth it and she can take a later flight.
Cargohold is inhunane, perhaps you should try it one day.
Have you flown in the cargohold? If so, congratulations for not getting caught being a stowaway. If not, stop with the stupid comments.
Wow I totally disagree with your perception of this incident! And do u think the 2 other people kicked off for voicing reasonable concern was warranted? And how about the other passengers who voluntarily left the plane in protest? I hope this story continues to go viral for all to see the lack of common sense & courtesy as well as lack of understanding and compassion this flight crew had.
In the video, just as it is cut off, you can hear the two people talking and the man starts to curse. If you start cursing on a plane you should be kicked off.
Agreed.
so the next flight with a noisy child I can expect the same? Let’s throw them off too…..
The facts are: Sadly, SWA does not allow animals in cargo at all. The cat or dog must be at least 8 weeks old and able to fit in a specific size carrier. Only six pets per flight. The pet carrier counts as a personal item. If you open the carrier at any time once you enter the gate area, they can refuse to let you board. If your pet is noisy, they can refuse to let you board. If your pet is sick, they can refuse to let you board. It costs $95 for a pet like this. A service animal (for the blind) counts as a passenger and must have a ticket to board and needs to fit under the seat paid for. No one can refuse a service animal. Rule are rules. They are made for the good of the whole. She was warned in the gate area about the dog whining. She knew the rules. There are airlines that fly only pets and transporters as well. I have a parakeet. When I fly I find care for my bird. A nervous 8 week old puppy cannot be counted on to hold their poo/pee in. That would not be OK to me. We have asthma and allergies to cats and dogs. We ask at the gate how many pets are on the flight. They have asked owners to sit in the back and owners have been understanding. We never had a problem. The attendant was doing his job. Shaming him or SWA for following their company rules is not nice. The owner knew what she was getting herself into and she just could not handle it with grace and dignity. She might have taken responsibiity for the situation and set a great example for others in consequences and accountability. Instead, she made herself a victim. Thank you SWA for protecting other passengers.
Actually she was following the directions of the flight attendant, Tyler McTaggart, as she had closed the carrier and placed it under the seat. She was petting the pup through the mesh to comfort him when the little nazi decided to exercise his little bit of power and throw not only the woman but two people who expressed disagreement. Personally, I’d sooner fly with a whining pup than a squalling baby on the plane.
Vets will tell you to give Benadryl to a pet before flying. Calms them down and usually puts them to sleep!
When I read these stories, I feel very fortunate to not have had a problem when I flew with my dog. We don’t normally take our dog on flights with us, but we did for the first time in June of this year.
Our dog is very well behaved, generally does not whine or bark, and has not had an accident in more than 2 years.
When we got on the plane and started to taxi out, the dog started to whine softly. I doubt a flight attendant in the galley could have heard the dog, but certainly some of the surrounding passengers could– it’s a plane, someone was literally sitting overtop of the dogs carrier.
My wife unzipped the carrier just enough to reach her hand in and pet the dog and she stopped whining, but she had to do this 2-3 times in the flight. The idea that we’d get kicked off the flight for this seems ridiculous to me, but apparently we were probably dangerously close to being kicked off.
It depends on the airline and how witchy the flight attendants are feeling. In this case, it appears Ms. McTaggart was feeling very witchy.
Do the same with noise making kids
I hate most of the people here, uneducated drivel that obviously did not see the passengers beside her react. Obviously the puppy wasn’t being awful as the people sitting with her seem confused and as distraught as her over the situation.
The writer IS biased even though they tried throwing in a disclaimer, you can tell. Most of you sound like you have miserable lives.