This Passenger Was “Forced” to Abandon Her Pet Fish At the Airport

A passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight is speaking out against the company after flight staff allegedly forced her to give up her pet fish at the airport, even though pet fish are allowed to fly according to the Transportation Security Administration – Southwest’s policy, though, does not allow fish.

A passenger on a recent Southwest flight claims the airline forced her to give up her pet fish instead of allowing her to take it on the plane. Lanice Powless was flying from California to Colorado when a flight attendant informed her the fish couldn’t fly, even though Powless has flown with the fish before.

“I’ve taken him everywhere with me,” Powless told 10News. “I have traveled with it. I had it in my container too.”

But although the TSA allows pet fish to fly as carry-ons, Southwest’s policy says only small cats and dogs are allowed, if they fit under the seat in front of the passenger. Powless managed to find someone at the airport to take the fish so she could travel—but claims the airline did not let up.

“They were not allowing us to converse at all because they were thinking we were going to do some secret exchange throughout the airport,” Powless said. “Even after I was no longer in possession of the fish, they still continued to have security around us, and follow us through the airport and escorted onto our plane, as if we brought something bad onto the airport.”

Southwest, although they confirmed the incident happened, said that they offered to put Powless on a different flight to accommodate her fish.

“Our Team offered to re-book the customer for a later flight to allow them to make arrangements for their pet but the customer refused that option,” an airline spokesperson said. “The customer eventually traveled on their originally scheduled flight.”

[Photo: Shutterstock]