Veteran Challenging Airline for Rejecting Her Support Animal
Jesse Tabit December 07, 2015
Kate Skywalker, a former Canadian soldier, is calling out Air Canada for a policy she believes prevents service animals from offering emotional support to their owners in the air. Skywalker, who was recently diagnosed with anxiety due to her time in the Canadian Armed Forces, is saying the airline failed to let her cat join her onboard for a flight in October, though she believed she had all the proper documents in order. Skywalker said the carrier’s employee refused to hear her case concerning her mental illness.
The former soldier was later told she could bring the cat onboard for $50, though she adamantly declined. The employee eventually waived the fee and allowed her to board the flight with the pet.
Skywalker, who plans on taking a stand, claims the airline’s policy on service animals is too narrow as it only permits passengers with physical ailments to have service animals. “We say this isn’t right, this is a violation, it is a discrimination,” she said.
For more information on this story, visit CBC.
To discuss this story, visit this FlyerTalk forum.
[Screenshot: CBC News]
what's out of balance is the HUGE number of BS support animals out there. i've handled lawsuits regarding support animals and they do provide a real benefit. problem is, 95% of what you see running around with those $9.95 vests on are not really support animals and the abusive idiots scamming the system should be banned for life once discovered.
"Diagnosed that she needs a Kitten while watching the IFE"? There is a huge difference between having an ailment and finding comfort in your pet vs not being able to navigate without your seeing eye dog. The two are in no way comparable. So real things such as allergies don't count anymore but comfort does? This is out of balance.
This Support Animal thing is getting way out of hand. Now it is a cat next a pig or horse which is already happening.
Headline: Veteran Challenging Airline After They Rejected Her Support Animal From the story: > The employee eventually waived the fee and allowed her to board the flight with the pet So, the headline should read, 'veteran challenges airline even after they went against standard policy and allowed her to board with her support animal'.
So she's suing to get back her zero dollars?