Now that emotional support animals are at the center of a public discussion balancing the comfort of passengers with the safety of others, more stories are emerging. But does the latest hamster story pass the smell test?
Belen Aldecosea, a 21-year-old college student, discovered a potentially cancerous growth on her neck. While it later turned out to be benign, she purchased a hamster from a local Petco in the Philadelphia area to bring her comfort.
Pebbles, her pet dwarf hamster, lived in a small cage in her dorm. Even thought the growth on her neck was not cancerous, it was painful and she arranged to have it removed near her childhood home in the Ft. Lauderdale area.
She booked on Spirit after calling twice and confirming that she could bring Pebbles along. She was assured traveling with her hamster would be no problem. But on the day of her flight, she was told at the airport that her hamster was not allowed onboard. Aldecosea claims one Spirit employee advised her to either let it go outside or flush it down the toilet. Not wanting to freeze the hamster to death, she flushed it down an airport toilet.
Recalling the incident to the Miami Herald, Aledecosea stated–
She was scared. I was scared. It was horrifying trying to put her in the toilet. I was emotional. I was crying and I sat there for a good 10 minutes crying in the stall.
Spirit Condemns Passengers, but Offered Compensation
She wrote to Spirit a few days after the flight and complained. Spirit offered her a token voucher, which she refused. Now she is contemplating a lawsuit against the budget carrier.
Spirit denies one of its employees instructed Aledecosea to kill Pebbles and condemns Aledecosea for her actions–
After researching this incident, we can say confidently that at no point did any of our agents suggest this guest (or any other for that matter) should flush or otherwise injure an animal. It is incredibly disheartening to hear this guest reportedly decided to end her own pet’s life.
That’s a slap in the face, and now we have a he-said, she-said game.
Does This Story Pass the Smell Test?
I believe Aldecosea. First, I lived in Philadelphia for three years, flew out of PHL on a weekly basis, and can envision several employees telling her dismissively to “take care” of the problem. Second, I believe that Spirit’s initial offer of compensation suggests guilt. It’s quite different than putting all the blame on Aldecosea, as Spirit does now.
Finally, Aldecosea was placed in an impossible position. This occurred during the peak Thanksgiving travel period and there were no other viable options. Trains were full, one-way car rental prices were exorbitant, and bus options not practical. And it’s not like most 21-year-old college students have the money to just walk over the American Airlines counter and buy a walk-up ticket to Florida.
It’s sad that she could not find a friend or someone to watch her hamster, but again, it was a busy holiday period and her roots and most friendships were home in Florida.
CONCLUSION
I’ll be following this story with some interest…hamsters are cheap so damages will be limited in that category, but what about emotional distress? Should airlines be held accountable for providing conflicting information?
(H/T: One Mile at a Time)
To say it’s more practical to kill your pet than take the bus is just disturbing. You believe her? And sympathize with someone who drowned her pet? What if they’d said she couldn’t bring her dog? Would she have drowned it, and would you have felt bad for her?
TSA doesn’t enforce airline animal restrictions. They couldn’t care less. She could have put the cage in her backpack and been done with it.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I do.
By the way – is this not the same blog that was bemoaning people with even well behaved dogs on planes? But now Spirit is wrong for not allowing a hamster on?
That’s another issue. I’d personally eliminate all emotional support animals…period…but that may be more inhumane than flushing a hamster down a toilet.
I can see why you believe her and I second the airline staff comments about PHL but the statement “Not wanting to freeze the hamster to death, she flushed it down an airport toilet.” If a pet is loved who would do that? It’s not a dead goldfish. Based on the information this person doesn’t seem stable to me. In fact if I was a gate agent and the person came back to the gate to board the flight and told me they just killed an animal I wouldn’t allow them to fly. Weird.
That’s a fair point and maybe explains why she needed an emotional support animal in the first place.
The incident didn’t happen at PHL, though. It happened at BWI. I’ve been through there a few times, and don’t recall the employees being particularly callous.
Either way, what I don’t understand is this. TSA doesn’t care about hamsters, and from the photos, it was tiny. Why not just go outside for a few minutes, come back through another door where the employee can’t see you, and just hide the thing in your bag after clearing security? Like DaninMCI says, this woman seems really off. (For the record, I do believe Spirit does hold some blame here, for providing misinformation multiple times. I’m a firm believer that airlines must be held accountable for giving out erroneous advice.)
She is insane. Regardless of what Spirit told her, the fact that she would actually flush her hamster down the toilet instead of searching for another options shows that she is moderately to severely mentally disabled. I guess the animal wasn’t that important!
Time for someone to start the AirZoo so all these nut jobs and their emotional BS animals can fly together. If you are not emotionally stable to fly alone stay home. This never happened in the 70’s, 80’s or 90’s. It is the new BS generation that feels entitled to do whatever their lazy brain tells them to do and they then vent on social media as the only way people can notice they exist.
So let me get this straight. She’s initially told that she can take the hamster, then told she can’t. Now we’re expected to believe that an employee did not tell her to flush it down the toilet.
I haven’t seen not one story on any of the animal rights groups screaming about this incident. And I’m surprised that ASPCA or local authorities haven’t gone after her and charged for animal abuse. And if it was an emotional support animal that she claimed it was and that it meant that she couldn’t fly without it but yet she STILL DID!
My linked story has PETA clamoring for criminal prosecution.
From news reports she was apparently offered another flight 9 hours later so she could make arrangements for her pet. Spirit probably offered her a travel voucher not because they suggested she flush the hamster but that they gave her the wrong advice, initially suggesting the hamster would be fine to fly. Spirit readily admits to this.
I don’t believe this girl had no other humane alternative to flushing her pet down the toilet. She should be charged with animal cruelty.
I think the story is quite sad but I have to agree with the commenters that something seems very off here. College students are not known for their exceptionally good judgement but finding no other alternative but to drown her pet, and then still being able to fly (despite it supposedly being an emotional support animal) suggests mental issues.
I also am not convinced that an airline employee would tell a distressed young woman to kill her pet. I can’t even imagine that happening at JFK or LaGuardia, two of the world’s most miserable airports, let alone BWI where I have generally found people to be a bit friendlier.
flush her down the toilet too
Yes please.
“From news reports she was apparently offered another flight 9 hours later so she could make arrangements for her pet. ”
And she took the later flight (7.42pm vs 10.39am). So she had NINE hours to figure something out. Call her parents, her college tutor or student society, or the local humane society.
And it’s hardly an emotional support animal when she kills it and then travels alone, only to buy a new one when she gets back to college.
I know whose head needs stuffing into a toilet.