LegalTender

This is your conjecture?

BerenErchamion

No.

The article was actually published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, but the FAA has announced that it endorses its suggestions

TheChallenge

I requested cash reimbursement for my destroyed iPad as well as cleaning costs for my bag from WN and the passenger, never got it. WN supervisor refunded my points I used to pay for the ticket when I landed, but they said I'd need to put in a claim for the actual items. While it "technically" hasn't been denied, I have yet to have any progress on that situation.

The woman's dog was held in quarantine for thirty days for observation, then they put it down. The dog supposedly attacked employees at the shelter while it was held for observation so the lady had no chance of getting the dog back. She was never charged. I wanted to press charges but the DA felt there wasn't significant evidence to charge her. We thought about pursuing the matter against her in court, but after doing a background check against her we found she has about fifteen unpaid judgements outstanding. It'd be useless.

WN was accommodating at first, they refunded the tickets, followed up at the hospital, and later twice. They offered about a week later to pay medical bills if I submitted for reimbursement, which I did. However after I submitted the bills they offered to only cover the deductible portion, only problem is I'm self employed so the insurance we carry I purchase myself. My next years rates are based upon last years claims, I've already priced it out and my rates will be going up by $135 a month. I would've been better off paying cash at the hospital to get reimbursed at the true cost, but obviously I wasn't concerned about that at the time. So what WN wants to give my girlfriend for the incident is less than half the purchase price of the ticket she was on. I told WN I'd rather not be reimbursed at this moment, we'd like to consider our options. After I said that they refused to speak to us again on the matter.

Most importantly my girlfriend refuses to fly WN now because of the incident unless she absolutely has to. She travels all the time on between LAS-RNO, but refuses to now take WN. Just earlier this week she instead flew AA LAS-LAX-RNO and back. I've switched her off of companion pass and I'm stuck having to run down our 200k+ points stashes myself prior to devaluation.

ILovetheReds

That incident could have happened on any airline. Dogs that aren't certified service animals should be in carriers or muzzled. If a dog was behaving that way there was no way it could have been certified as a service or companion animal. IMO, it was very inconsiderate of the owner to even travel with the dog, the owner had to be familar with the dogs behavior.

Any responsible pet owner would have offered to compensate you on the spot for the damages. The dogs owners insurance company should be reimbursing you for the medical bills, that is something that is typically covered under an umbrella policy if they had one.

I have never travelled with a dog, but there have been a couple times I sat beside someone travelling with a dog and fortunately the dogs have always been well behaved and their owners were responsible.

My wife and I have had to travel with cats before and we try to be considerate (we use to breed Sphynx kittens and we REFUSED to allow them to fly cargo. There were times we would fly them to shows or times someone wanted a kitten in another state and didn't want to fly and would pay one of our airfares to fly the kitten there). If the kitten was docile and I know will just sit on my lap, there were times I would take the kitten out of the bag and hold it in my lap once we were at cruising altitude but I would ALWAYS ask my seat mate if they cared. A couple times I had people tell me they always thought the cats were ugly in the past (which I agree they aren't an attractive cat) but were amazed at how friendly they are. One time I was seated in Y beside a kid and his mother and the little boy asked to hold the kitten and was begging his mom to let him keep him

I will USUALLY play musical chairs with someone seated beside me that claims to have a cat allergy even though this breed usually doesn't trigger a reaction with most people with allergies. There were two occassions when I refused. One time was when I was on a PAID first class ticket and my seatmate was upgraded and the FA said she was sure she could find someone in the back of the plane willing to switch seats with him The other time I was upgraded on Delta as a diamond and my seatmate was either a gold or silver upgraded and the FA told her she would have to be the one to trade seats since I was a higher level elite. Was funny, in both those cases, the people said they would deal with their allergies and stay in first class And neither one of them had any problems with their allergies and one was a four and a half hour flight

rsteinmetz70112

Here is an official FAA Press Release

http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releas...ontentKey=1966

The FAA has proposed requiring Child Restrains in the past and been backed off. I suspect safety is not the only reason.

toomanybooks

Airlines should require pax with carry-on animals of any kind to carry insurance covering liability from their misbehavior, and make them prove it when they show up at the gate. That would take care of some of the nonsense.

joshua362

Absolutely! I can't believe their lawyers haven't insisted on this. When I was a Risk Manager for a Fortune 200 company, some companies wouldn't let our sales people come in give a sales presentation without bothering me for a Certificate of Insurance. Would solve ALL the nonsense real quick. (Let me guess, its discriminatory, there's a ADA clause prohibiting, etc...)

TheChallenge

While yes, I understand the incident could have happened on any airline, WN failed when they had knowledge prior to boarding that the dog was agitated and being aggressive at the gate. They, as the airline, should have made the right decision to refuse boarding to the passenger while she was also bringing that dog. The lady doesn't have an insurance policy of any sort, car, renters, home owners, etc.

We could care less about the costs, things happen. My bigger concern is this is now the second time that I've had an experience with an ESA on WN acting inappropriately in the terminal, but still being allowed on board where it continues the behavior. That's why we both now refuse to sit next to ESAs on WN specifically.

rsteinmetz70112

It's not ADA but the Air Carrier Access Act for ESAs. It prohibits additional fees.

Peter T.

I'm surprised with your bad luck that you've sat next to an ESA so often on WN.

I presume that you have boarded first and selected your seat and then the person with an ESA boards and chooses to sit close to you (for whatever reason). Is that what happened?

Myself, after flying WN all these years, I've never had to sit close to an ESA (or even a pax with a service animal). When I've had low A boarding passes and boarded early, the pax who would sit next to me up front never brought along an service animal, ESA or pet. And when I've had high B's (or C's) boarding passing, I would personally avoid sitting next to a pax the brought along an pet or service animal. Hence, never sat near a pet, ESA, or Service animal all the years I've flown WN.

I'm been seated closer to service animals on the legacy carriers with assigned sitting, though I've been lucky and haven't had a pax with a pet or service animal ever sit right next to me (in the same row).

joshua362

Well, strictly speaking, having to provide adequate proof of insurance isn't a fee but I doubt even obtaining insurance is on the mind of someone who buys into the whole ESA thing. And I bet insurance carriers have found a way to exclude coverage for these type of events. I was shopping homeowner's policies a few years ago and was having problems getting quotes due to my Husky safely contained in my backyard / house.

Really surprised airline's lawyers haven't pushed back on this. I guess it will take a few more unfortunate events like TheChallenge's before they wise up!

rsteinmetz70112

That's going to be a really tough sell. I'm sure there are not many incidents and the airlines can afford them more than the can afford a poor disabled kid crying on the 6 o'clock news because the big heartless airline will not let fluffy fly.

They will never put the cheating scofflaw with a pit bull on TV.

fastflyer

Not for legitimate service animals, like certified guide dogs for the blind. That would require a federal law. What's outrageous is that the loons pushing the limits with "emotional support animals" are ruining it for the truly disabled.

as219

It's not the only reason. At the risk of being flamed, we seriously considered going down this road. Our dog is too big to fit under the seat. We'd check her, but as a "brachycephalic" (i.e., snub-nosed) dog, airlines won't allow her to travel as cargo during the summer. She's very calm, docile, well-mannered and totally fine curling up in a ball for 6-7 hours. When the need for unavoidable, last-minute travel came up this past summer, we came close to "procuring" an ESA permission letter...none of our trusted dog-sitters were available and she really hates being left in a kennel. Plus, there were some genuine emotional needs involved, though clearly not of the DSM-IV variety. So what to do? In the end, a long-shot came through, and we were able to leave her...but I was pretty much ready to go the ESA route. For the record, I would have paid pretty much any price to bring her along, so the money wasn't the issue.

TheChallenge

I'm A List Preferred and fly at wacky flight times inconvenient to business travelers so I usually get on first or close to it. I usually pick the bulkhead due to my height, so I usually end up with an ESA in one of the other seats in the bulkhead so they have room for the dog.

I like dogs, but after my first experience I wouldn't willingly sit next to an already sitting ESA on a flight unless I had to.