In another incident of a service dog causing inconvenience to a passenger, a traveler on a recent United Airlines flight had to move to a different seat because a service dog had occupied the seat assigned to them.
Last month, it was reported that something similar happened on a Delta Air Lines flight when a passenger was asked to move from his first-class seat to accommodate a service dog.
Passenger asked to move to a different seat
A passenger shared their experience on Reddit about a recent flight on United Airlines
in which they had to give up an assigned seat because a service dog had occupied it. The plane was full and destined for Denver.
The passenger’s identity is not known, but according to their Reddit post, they found a large service dog sitting on their seat. The animal was too large to sit on the floor in front of its owner, so the only way to accommodate it was to have it sit on the seat.
When the passenger notified a flight attendant, there was not much that they could do. The aircraft was full, and the passenger thought that they might be asked to leave the flight. Thankfully, another empty seat was eventually located. The traveler commented,
“A United staff member came onboard and spoke to the passenger but the dog remained. Finally, somehow they located another seat for me. The dog stayed on my seat for the whole flight. Totally absurd that an oversized dog can displace a paying passenger from their seat.
“Your dog should sit in the floor space in front of your seat. They can’t be in the aisle or the floor space of the travelers next to you.
“It is nasty to have a dog outside of a carrier sitting on passengers’ seats with his butt on the armrests. The gate agents carefully check the size [of] my carry-on, but apparently they don’t monitor the size of people’s ‘service’ dogs! WTH.”
Simple Flying contacted United Airlines for a comment and received the following response:
“Our policy calls for service animals to sit either in the floor space in front of a customer or in the customer’s lap. If they need more space, the customer will need to purchase an extra seat or a seat in a premium cabin so there is room for the animal to sit in the available floor space. Occasionally, we may ask other customers to consider changing seats to accommodate a larger service animal.”
Photo: Just dance | Shutterstock
Not the first time
The latest incident is similar to the one that happened on a Delta Air Lines
flight not too long ago. Last month, it was reported that a passenger who was upgraded to first class had to once again move back to economy because a service dog had occupied that space. In a Reddit post, the passenger explained,
“I got upgraded to first this morning, only to 15 mins later get downgraded (to a worst seat than I previously had). I asked the desk agent what was going on and she said “something changed”.
Photo: JHVEPhoto | Shutterstock
There was another incident related to a service dog in April last year when a
Belgian malinois named Bella bit two people at the Denver International Airport
. One was an American Airlines employee, while the other was a passenger waiting for a flight.
Flying with service dogs
Many airlines allow passengers to travel with service dogs. While smaller dogs are easier to accommodate, bigger dogs need more consideration. Service dogs are useful for many people, as they are trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability.
There are several rules for traveling with service dogs, and Simple Flying has analyzed them in detail in the article below.
Related
The Ins & Outs Of Flying With Service Dogs
Your four-legged companion will have minimal issues getting onboard.