Dogs in First Class
 

Hi all. Haven't posted in awhile.

My husband and I were flying BWI to SAN via DEN on Friday 5/29. We upgraded to first using miles. We are both 1Ps. We board and take our seats. A few minutes later my eyes start watering and my throat gets scracthy. I look up and the woman getting settled in the row in front of me has a dog. I am not talking a small dog in a carrier, I am talking a full size 60lb border collie. The woman was not handicapped, blind, or anything like that. She has a "Urban Search and Rescue Task Force" T shirt on, so apparently this qualifies her to bring her dog on the plane. I do not think these dogs qualify as "service dogs" and therefore should not be allowed on the plane, but could find nothing on UA's website about this.

I am high allegeric to dog hair and dog dander. There is no way I would be able to sit on the plan for 3+ hours with this dog in front of me. I go and talk to the FA, who directs me to the gate agent. The gate agent says I can go on the next flight to DEN, but we won't be able to upgrade. The bigger problem is, that will put us into SAN almost 4 hours later, and we have cruise to catch. The flight is very full, but he offers to move us to coach, but tells us there is another service dog in coach as well. ...?:mad: Since when do non-service animals take higher priority than regular paying customers?

The GA goes down the jetway and appatently talks to the woman with the dog. The GA comes back and states, the woman works for the FBI, and the dog has training in Denver and can not possibly take a later flight. So it is up to me to either deal with the dog, or cancel our plans. We stay on the plane, I pop several claritin which does not help. I am sneezing, my eyes are watering, and my throat is very sore during the flight and over the weekend due to my being in close proximity to this dog.

I certainly did not enjoy first class and feel the miles spent to upgrade were wasted. I have contacted UA Customer Service through UA's website, but have not heard anything back yet. Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks.

The UA policy for animals in the cabin can be found at
Home > Services & information > Children, pets & assistance

In particular Service Animals and Pets

If this was considered a "law enforcement animal", believe it is considered under the Service Animal section.

Sorry it affected your travels, but this is a difficult situation and there may be not right answer for everyone.

And yet, you did...

From UA's webpage, "United Airlines and United Express welcome service animals accompanying persons with disabilities."

I can undestand service animals for those with disabilities, but I didn't find anything about "Law Enforcement animals"

My bigger problem is that there was no way to get away from the dogs on the plane. We could not move to coach, because there was a dog there also.

See: http://www.1srg.org/Contributed-Mate...r%20Travel.doc

For UA: POLICY: Search and rescue dogs may travel in-cabin for a $30 fee.
An e-mail from the airline is included in the appendix.*

If you google "law enforcement animal airlines", you will find other airlines explicitly stating "law enforcement animal" in their "service animal policy." There does not appear to be anything on the UA site but it does appear to a be an industry practice.

Since they didn't complain but you did.

See if your allergist can give you something more effective that OTC Claritin. It's very hard to avoid dogs in life.

This is a tough call. Although I personally am not allergic to dogs, I feel for the OP. In a perfect world there would be a way to include your allergy in your online profile, or notify the agent at booking, so that as soon as someone made a reservation with a dog, you would be notified and given options (e.g., reaccommodated in Y, given F seats far away from the dog, offered an earlier flight, etc.). But we don't live in that world, which means your options are, sad to say, limited.

I wish people that were sensitive to excessive perfumes and colognes were taken as seriously as those who have pet allergy issues.

I have no trouble with cats/dogs - but I start sneezing and getting itchy eyes when near co-workers who over bathe themselves in perfume...

The pax in coach would not sacrifice his coach seat for a seat in first class? Hard to believe.

The bonus of course is that both dogs would have likely started to tear each others throat out causing both the dogs and their handlers to be evicted. That would be the trifecta: two fewer dogs to defecate on my lawn, a more open cabin in F, and you get your seat in F back.

EDIT: I'm pretty much allergy free, but married to someone who works in an allergy clinic. So I have lots of sympathy for people with allergies, especially peanut allergies which are derided on FT but in fact are very lethal. I know for a fact that animal allergies can be treated with the allergy shots, and unless OP has tried and failed at this, I suggest he give it a go.

EDIT: And :td: to the FBI agent for not agreeing to sit in coach and OP. Whatever happened to "Serve and Protect"? The agent is flying on OP's nickel.

It's certainly a ruffffffffffffffff situation.

There are much stronger allergy meds out there, than OTC Claritin. If you knew of the severity of your dog allergies, and the potential to be in contact with allergens a in a confined space, I would've headed to the doctor.

This is a disturbing part:

Now here you have a public servant, told that the animal is causing grief to another passenger on the flight, and she still does nothing. I'd contact the FBI and make a formal complaint. With all due respect to "dog training", at the very least the FBI woman with the dog should have moved into Y with the other dog. What is the agent doing in F with a dog in the first place? Sorry, UA dropped the ball here. Dog lover though I am, people come first, and public servants come last.

well come on now, regardless of how exactly the agent+dog got into F, if they have a right to be there by their ticket, what obligation do they have/right do you have to insist that they be downgraded to Y? What if it had been a private citizen?

Sure, it would be nice if the agent had volunteered, but maybe that didn't occur to him/her and/orwas not presented as an option? A govt. employee does not give up all and become subservient to anyone else just because they're on a plane, or anywhere else.

At what level do you have the privilege to insist that a public servant do something because it inconveniences a non-public servant?

The Coach cabin is generally much bigger than F on domestic aircraft, so wouldn't it have given you the option of more space between you and the dog?