Fake Service Dogs
Oct 28, 2014, 9:25 am
#166
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2010
Programs: AA
Posts: 14,743
There is nothing that says someone with a service dog is required to have a companion right next to them. This was just someone taking advantage of the situation.
If it were me, I would write to Frontier and explain that their FA needs to be retrained in how to handle such a situation - because the FA was in the wrong.
No need to ask to provide for proof of the authenticity of the service dog. Just point out at that the law doesn't require such an accommodation of requiring the couple to be next to each other. The accommodation was that the monster got to bring her precious on the plane with her. Anything else is just the airline catering to the whim of someone who thinks they are more special than anyone else.
If it were me, I would write to Frontier and explain that their FA needs to be retrained in how to handle such a situation - because the FA was in the wrong.
No need to ask to provide for proof of the authenticity of the service dog. Just point out at that the law doesn't require such an accommodation of requiring the couple to be next to each other. The accommodation was that the monster got to bring her precious on the plane with her. Anything else is just the airline catering to the whim of someone who thinks they are more special than anyone else.
Oct 28, 2014, 1:24 pm
#169
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Denver CO
Programs: HHonors Gold, National Emerald Club, no airline affinity status
Posts: 3,352
This is somewhat related. At a local dog park I go each day, there is another person that readily admits he faked all the documentation for his 2 small dogs (a poodle and shiztu). He did it to get them access to the apartment where his girlfriend lives (he lives someplace else). He said that his gf's landlord can no longer question the dogs on the property.
Oct 28, 2014, 4:22 pm
#170
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: LHR- ish
Programs: MUCCI, BA Blue
Posts: 4,295
I think the trouble with that sort of attitude- and I can quite see why you said it - is that if people get away with it once they'll do it again, and again. I know we'd all have lower blood pressure if we took things in our stride, smiled and just said "life goes on, there are bigger issues" but I'd have insisted that a change of seat wasn't going to happen. Prove the authenticity of the service dog, name and number of the organisation, let them threaten to deplane me, unload luggage, bring it to the notice of the law enforcement officers. It's against the law to try that "dog trick" so how far would they push it?
I'm not normally angry
but just hate it when others try it on to the detriment of fellow pax so they can be a bit more comfortable themselves. Selfish and more selfish. Some people need to be pulled up short before they think everyone they come into contact with is a pushover. (I also think this about most governments too but that's another blog).
I'm not normally angry
but just hate it when others try it on to the detriment of fellow pax so they can be a bit more comfortable themselves. Selfish and more selfish. Some people need to be pulled up short before they think everyone they come into contact with is a pushover. (I also think this about most governments too but that's another blog).
Oct 28, 2014, 8:11 pm
#171
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Marin County, California
Programs: Amex Centurion
Posts: 412
Spoke with my son more about it after the flight and he told me the FA told him that the female passenger (with the dog) had anxiety about flying and that was the reason she was entitled to be moved to a seat next to her male partner and the dog on their lap. Therefore, my son and friends had to be split up to accommodate them.
Oct 29, 2014, 10:21 am
#172
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Here's a nice story:
My son and three Graduate Students are on Frontier Flight 824 (just departed 30 minutes ago). Flying from Denver to Kansas City.
The four of them were in paid "stretch" seating. Seats 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D. (all 4 seats in a row and the opposite aisle seat). After boarding and getting settled in their assigned seats, a couple with a teacup sized dog wearing a vest and official-looking emblem (must be official, right?) boarded the plane. The couple apparently booked their tickets late and were not able to sit together and were seated in 1a (Bulkhead window) and 1E (middle bulkhead across the aisle) and loudly informed the Flight Attendant that they should be seated together because they "have a service dog"
The Flight Attendant promptly demanded my son's group move out of 2B and 2C and take 1A and 1E. My son politely mentioned to the FA that the four of them were seated together and were told it's a rule as "they have a service dog. This effectively split up the entire group with none seated together.
Luckily my son is good-natured and texted me that it's not a long flight so it's not a big deal. I told him he's right and smile and make the best of it.
But more to the point, WHERE DOES THIS INSANITY END??
My son and three Graduate Students are on Frontier Flight 824 (just departed 30 minutes ago). Flying from Denver to Kansas City.
The four of them were in paid "stretch" seating. Seats 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D. (all 4 seats in a row and the opposite aisle seat). After boarding and getting settled in their assigned seats, a couple with a teacup sized dog wearing a vest and official-looking emblem (must be official, right?) boarded the plane. The couple apparently booked their tickets late and were not able to sit together and were seated in 1a (Bulkhead window) and 1E (middle bulkhead across the aisle) and loudly informed the Flight Attendant that they should be seated together because they "have a service dog"
The Flight Attendant promptly demanded my son's group move out of 2B and 2C and take 1A and 1E. My son politely mentioned to the FA that the four of them were seated together and were told it's a rule as "they have a service dog. This effectively split up the entire group with none seated together.
Luckily my son is good-natured and texted me that it's not a long flight so it's not a big deal. I told him he's right and smile and make the best of it.
But more to the point, WHERE DOES THIS INSANITY END??
Spoke with my son more about it after the flight and he told me the FA told him that the female passenger (with the dog) had anxiety about flying and that was the reason she was entitled to be moved to a seat next to her male partner and the dog on their lap. Therefore, my son and friends had to be split up to accommodate them.
Oct 30, 2014, 2:46 am
#173
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 206
I feel for the flyer here though, as standing your ground in a crowded airplane is tough. The majority of other passengers do not have the same fervour for flying and simply want you to "shut up and listen". Many people can't handle that kind of social pressure.
Oct 30, 2014, 6:54 am
#174
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 2,189
It is not about "the majority of other passengers" but the fact that you have to comply with the orders from the crew or risk being offloaded. As soon as the FA decides to play the game of the shameless passenger with the dog, your chances of sorting it out your way are pretty slim.
Oct 30, 2014, 8:26 am
#175
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It's really amazing the effect that asking for something in writing has, when someone is trying to do the easy thing instead of the right one.
Oct 30, 2014, 11:17 am
#176
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: East Anglia UK
Programs: BA-S UA LH-Sen KLM/AF-Plat.
Posts: 1,627
It is not about "the majority of other passengers" but the fact that you have to comply with the orders from the crew or risk being offloaded. As soon as the FA decides to play the game of the shameless passenger with the dog, your chances of sorting it out your way are pretty slim.
No, I've never had to be in this situation but I almost wish I had now.
Oct 30, 2014, 11:33 am
#177
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: EWR-SEA-IAD
Programs: UA 1P MM, AS MVP G*, SPG Gold, Hyatt Plat, IHG Plat, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 977
Couple months ago was on SEA-IAD and 3 military walk on the plane with 3 big, mean looking attack dogs and sat in the bulkhead row with the dogs at their feet. They were muzzled but still they were scary as heck.
Oct 30, 2014, 12:25 pm
#178
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: PDX
Programs: AA LT PLT (3.6+ MM), UA 1K LT Gold, Hilton LT Diamond, Bonvoy Gold.
Posts: 1,663
I had the misfortune to sit next to a person who had a very large German Shepherd with a spiffy service jacket a few years back. The dog took most of the floor space in the entire row of 3, it was well behaved but seriously, this dog was huge. To cap it all the dog kept dropping 'air biscuits' the whole 2 hour trip. Where does this insanity end? Don't I have any rights to the space at my feet and not be subjected to a dogs rear-end gas output?
Oct 30, 2014, 9:24 pm
#179
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I had the misfortune to sit next to a person who had a very large German Shepherd with a spiffy service jacket a few years back. The dog took most of the floor space in the entire row of 3, it was well behaved but seriously, this dog was huge. To cap it all the dog kept dropping 'air biscuits' the whole 2 hour trip. Where does this insanity end? Don't I have any rights to the space at my feet and not be subjected to a dogs rear-end gas output?
Nov 25, 2014, 2:39 am
#180
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2004
Location: DFW/DAL
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I had the misfortune to sit next to a person who had a very large German Shepherd with a spiffy service jacket a few years back. The dog took most of the floor space in the entire row of 3, it was well behaved but seriously, this dog was huge. To cap it all the dog kept dropping 'air biscuits' the whole 2 hour trip. Where does this insanity end? Don't I have any rights to the space at my feet and not be subjected to a dogs rear-end gas output?
It is the first thing I would bring up with the FA if I saw this.
"If a service animal is disruptive or too large to fit under the seat or at the passenger's feet without encroaching on another passenger's space or protruding into the aisle, it will need to travel in a kennel (provided by the passenger) in the cargo hold."
http://www.aa.com/i18n/travelInforma...iceAnimals.jsp