Dog Poop Covered Seats on Delta
Jeff Edwards November 07, 2018
Delta Air Lines officials say the company has reached out to a passenger who encountered a feces-laden mess left behind by an “ill” service dog. Although the carrier has offered to reimburse the customer for dry cleaning and new shoes, in this case, the unamused victim says the way he was treated by cabin crew members was much worse than the icky discovery during boarding.
Delta Airlines has confirmed that a passenger on a Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) to Miami International Airport (MIA)-bound flight earlier this month learned too late that the sticky mess covering a portion of the cabin floor and his seat was, in fact, dog feces. The airline has apologized for the incident, but the soiled traveler says flight attendants treated him worse than the substance that covered his shoes.
“It was feces, and it was everywhere,” passenger Mathew Meehan told Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB-TV. “It was on my seat. It was on the floor. My feet were in it … This is all I was given, two paper towels and one of those little bottles of Bombay Sapphire. I was in the bathroom cleaning feces off of the back of my legs, off of my shoes. I was wearing loafers unfortunately, so the feces was all over my bare ankles.”
As bad as the gag-inducing dog poop befoulment sounds, Meehan told reporters that it was the attitude of the cabin crew that left a lingering stain from the experience. He claims his request for a cleaning crew to address the issue was rudely rebuffed. Instead, he says he and other passengers had to make do with covering the offending fecal matter with a blanket.
“[The flight attendant] said to me, ‘Well, that’s not my problem.’ I said, ‘I’m sorry?’ She says, ‘Well, if the cleaning crew didn’t clean your seat, I don’t have any control over that.’ She said, ‘We’re only a couple minutes away [from departure] so you can either sit in your seat or you can not go home,’ and those were my options … I have never in my entire life felt more dehumanized. I felt like an animal. Words can’t even describe how awful it was, and they had so many opportunities to make it right.”
In a statement, Delta attributed the incident to a service animal that had become ill on a prior flight. According to officials, the aircraft has since been taken out of service for a thorough deep cleaning.
“Delta apologizes to customers impacted by the incident and has reached out to make it right, offering a refund and additional compensation,” an airline spokesperson said. “The safety and health of our customers and employees is our top priority, and we are conducting a full investigation while following up with the right teams to prevent this from happening again.”
“I have never in my entire life felt more dehumanized. I felt like an animal. Words can’t even describe how awful it was, and they had so many opportunities to make it right.” ————- Why didn’t the Drama Queen take the next flight? The FA was kind enough to offer an alternative to removing the seat from service and insisting the pax deboard...which was the only proper response.
There are two issues here. Cannot speak to the pet and that portion of the issue. . However da plane da plane should in my mind have been pulled from service immediately. What damages the pet owner or manager should face is an after the fact issue. The passengers are entitled to compensation and extra effort on continuing travel. If you have a pet on board, special insurance should be required. Mandatory, in my opinion.
It could have been a pet that the owner paid to bring on the plane as well. Problem with this type of pet on plane is that they are supposed to stay confined to the carrier while on the plane, and not allowed out. An adult dog, unless sick, will not do it's business where it is sleeping, so they will hold it well. If they can't, they will let the human know they need to go.
Forgive an old man but this all seems too simple. There is both too much authority and too little shared by the staff on the plane. It seems incomprehensible to me that any reasonable agent of the airline on the plane would find that pressuring anyone to sit in a contaminated repugnant seat would do so except out of fear for their job if they rocked the boat, so to speak. It also seems an act of massive stupidity that anyone thinks that so many thousands of staff can be trained in extreme rarely occurring events. So what to do? Simple! Consult higher authorities immediately. These used to be called ombudsmen. They would step in, take control, and solve the issue at hand. Ombudsmen are not just one person but a combination of intercommunicating resources. Their authority can in such situations even supersede all executive staff. This is what you do. That is why you do it. No difference here to the dog issue and the airline crash due to some mysterious of unacted on issues. No difference. The Deming rules apply here. Those rules built that car manufacturer into a worldwide force. Apply them here. The decision making process is flawed. Therefore the decision makers make bad decisions. Fix the process and don't place full blame on those who made the wrong choice.
Nth American cabin crew are out of control treating pax with contempt. Doesn't matter what the situation..its all about what the crew wants and how they abuse their power. They fill growl back in a flash, threaten to deplane you, call a marshal or give you the option to get off rather than simply deal with the situation. I I were that pax I would ask for a status match from AA or the like. I personally wouldn't ever pay to fly on any Nth American -greyhound bus service with wings- carrier.