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AA Boots 12-Year-Old, Service Dog From Flight

Days after an epileptic child and his seizure dog were kicked off a flight, American Airlines has issued an apology and promised that management is ”looking into the issue.“

Thanksgiving holiday air travel was much more of a hassle than it needed to be for an epileptic 12-year-old and his family. A flight attendant on the final leg of the family’s trip initially objected to the child’s medically-required seizure dog being on the crowded plane. The family was eventually removed from their flight from Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) home to Evansville Regional Airport (EVW) because of the 110-pound Labradoodle service animal.

Amy Jo Weasel says the family’s Thanksgiving day travel plans were unnecessarily interrupted despite their providing a letter from her child’s doctor and alerting the airline to her son’s special needs well in advance of the flight. The upset mom claims she did everything in her power to follow the flight attendant’s instructions – even placing the service dog under her seat at one point. According to the family, even after relocating from their original assigned seats as requested, the cabin crew member was still not satisfied.

“You could tell right away from her demeanor, her attitude, and her body language that she did not like animals,” Weasel told Fox News affiliate WJZY. “She said I’ve already contacted management and they’re coming to speak with you, and the management got on the plane and told me that I needed to exit the aircraft.”

In a statement, American Airlines officials said that they were “aware of this issue and apologize to the passenger. Our customer relations team is reaching out to them directly. We are looking into the issue with PSA Airlines, the regional carrier who operated that flight.” The airline added that the family was offered a $150 voucher along with the apology.

“Hopefully they will hire people that have some compassion for the disabled folks in the community,” Weasel said responding to what she considers the airline’s inadequate attempt to make up for the family’s ordeal. “And my hope is that nobody else will have to go through this.”

[Photo: Chris Parypa/Shutterstock]

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9 Comments
6
6P&E December 4, 2016

There are so many questionable service dogs on flights now due to people's desire to flaunt and even break the rules- fairly easy to do- that it makes it tough on travelers with real service animal needs.

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Cymbo December 3, 2016

At some point this nonsense has to stop!

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N1120A December 2, 2016

The child is epileptic. Ever think this dog is trained to sense seizures, because that is a very common use for service dogs. Also, perhaps the child or an immediate family member is allergic to dogs and they needed a breed like a labradoodle to overcome that issue and also be able to aid with his health issues. The FA was in the wrong. There is no defending this. The compensation was paltry.

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YankinOz December 1, 2016

@thebug622 Interesting. Is your suggestion the kid would've been fine without the dog based on your knowledge as a pediatric neurologist, or maybe extensive experience with this individual child and their condition?

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pdsales December 1, 2016

FA was wrong, of course. Possible message to families who find that a family member will need an emotional support animal and have not yet acquired one is to give some thought to how you will manage that emotional support animal through airports and aircraft. Smaller will be better, if you can make that choice before the person needing support bonds with the animal.