txaggiemiles

Congressman Crenshaw has posted a video with some supporting evidence claiming a UA agent grabbed his dog and property and threatened to ban his wife and mother from flying . The edited portions of the security footage included don’t show much of what happened, but do show the UA agent “reaching in”. Crenshaw now threatens new legislation focused on passenger rights.

Link to full video here:
https://viewfromthewing.com/united-airlines-agent-grabs-a-congressmans-dog-threatens-to-ban-him-from-flying/

Here is the Congressman’s full statement accompanying his video:

This is one of the more aggressive videos I’ve ever had to post. You really need to see it all the way to the end. You’ll see a United agent grab the dog and personal property, and you’ll hear the shocking recording of my conversation with that agent’s supervisor (the VP of Operations) here in Houston. I fully expect United Airlines will attempt to retaliate against me. They’ve already sent me multiple veiled threats regarding my ability to travel in the future. Because they have a monopoly on the routes I need to DC, I don’t have much choice but to fly them.

I honestly did not want to post this. I tried to resolve this privately. I know there are good people at United. But these two individuals need to be called out. And their terrible corporate leadership needs to answer a simple question: do you condone this behavior?

Instead of doing anything to accept responsibility for their bad behavior or try to correct what is clearly inappropriate and problematic behavior, United, through its representative and lawyers, have threatened me personally and taken an irrationally hostile approach to this incident.

Many of you have shared your stories of being mistreated by an airline agent on a power trip. It’s time to start considering legislation that protects passengers. These airlines took tens of billions of dollars from taxpayers. United took $10.9 B and owes us better than this.

Details forthcoming. This isn’t ending anytime soon.

https://x.com/dancrenshawtx/status/1748874563574792677?s=46&t=oT1ctLqhjH-j2U1bvRUxQA

mahasamatman

Hundreds of passengers suffer at the hands of the airlines daily, but as soon as it happens to one Congressman, it becomes a big deal. Talk about self-importance.

Pi7473000

We need legislation that protects the consumers. Airlines have become too powerful in the U.S. with little sympathy toward the paying customer. We need a passenger bill of rights that puts the needs of the passenger before airline profits! Hopefully this will lead to more advocacy on behalf passengers. It is really bad United is treating its customers so poorly. If this is how a VP at United treats people there is a big cultural issue with how United treats customers. IAH has never been the most friendly United station. Hopefully this brings awareness as to how average people are treated on a daily basis.

WineCountryUA

Congressman Dan Crenshaw is a controversial individual however this is not the forum to comment on that. Let's stick to the specific incident and not into Congressman Crenshaw's other activities. OMNI/PR is the place for that

WineCountryUA
UA coModerator

VRFast

Maybe this has to happen to lawyers and Congressmen/women more since that is when action happens, law suits, legislation...The behavior of the "VP of ops" was totally inappropriate. Obviously that guy has no customer service experience, from the short recording I heard. "I deal with you people every day", really? De-escalate buddy....
Also, what are the rules flying with pets in a carrier? If there was a need for the dog to exit the carrier for "inspection" why wasn't the owner asked to take it out? I would never touch anyone else's pet since I have no idea what would happen to my hand.... Back in the day on Continental there was a 1 or 2 pet maximum on the plane on the same flight. Since I don't fly with a dog, I have no clue what the rules are now.
Lastly, I have no issues with dogs on the plane as long as they are not roaming the aisle and stay with owner.

Roger Lococco

Sounds like United.

txaggiemiles

Agree the VP interaction was bizarre and uncalled for and almost certainly motivated by the VP’s personal animus towards the Congressman. Crenshaw stated on X that he does not believe that the initial interaction with his wife had anything to do with her status as his wife.

Also agree it was really stupid to just reach into an unknown dog’s crate regardless of the where and why. Imagine what would be happening now if the UA agent had been bitten and was threatening lawsuit or charges?

fumje

I'm enjoying the idea summoned by the title of this thread, "dog has disagreement with UA employee".

Woof! 🛫 🐕‍🦺

cvision

While I'd in general agree with this, it is a simple matter of fact that legistlative change is often only brought about by either strong convictions of the lawmakers, issues that they themselves experience, or anyone significant to them, be it friends / family / community / donors. And is this any different from how "normal people" behave? I'd say no, everyone thinks they're important.

IAATM

Please, no more legislation! If you want to sue UA, fine. Doing so might get them to change. Or take your business elsewhere, but no more legislation please, we're drowning in it.

eqeqeqx

I don't get why anyone would think that just because hundreds of other passengers are also treated badly every day by airline/airport staff, it's anything but great if someone takes the effort to try and do something about it.

mahasamatman

Because he's known about this for years and done nothing about it. Because he's ignored his own constituents. Because motives are important. I wouldn't be surprised if any protections being proposed would only apply to politicians.

mnhusker

I only care about the safety of the dog

mherdeg

It's funny that his very direct threats in his video are phrased in the form of expanding consumer protections for airline passengers. His actual leverage is using a small amount of influence to withhold federal funds for infrastructure, particularly in TX. I can see why he wouldn't say that out loud but I'm sure Scott Kirby got the message and it's hard to imagine a lot of career growth for the folks the Congressman has on tape.

Maxwell Smart

Putting aside the facts at hand and no matter what he personally thinks about any member of Congress, just HOW STUPID is this United VP to insult a sitting US Congressman while acting as a representative of United and tell him to "shut up"?????
I'd guess he's probably already clearing out his office.