Southwest Airlines passenger, traveling with an 8-week-old pet, was asked to leave the flight after failing to control her whining dog and violating the airline's pet policy.
Air travel with pets can often be a challenging experience, and a recent incident on a Southwest Airlines flight from Colorado to California serves as a reminder of the complexities involved. Passengers had to contend with the disruptive behavior of an 8-week-old pet, which ultimately resulted in the removal of its owner from the flight.
This was on our flight with @SouthwestAir yesterday. She was literally petty her new puppy through the mesh of the completely zipped carrier, and they booted her off. pic.twitter.com/HeuMR4jzJ4
— Sara (@_Sara_Price_) October 21, 2023
According to an Insider report, the situation unfolded when a passenger, accompanied by her 8-week-old dog named Sitka, failed to control her pet and follow the airline's flight protocol. A video posted on TikTok by user Sara Price captured the events as they unfolded.
The trouble began when Sitka started whining during the flight, drawing the attention of the flight crew. In response, the crew approached the passenger and politely requested that she quieten her pet. However, this request went unheeded, as the woman continued to pet her dog, in violation of Southwest Airlines' policy, which mandates that pets must be securely placed in a carrier during both boarding and deplaning. In her TikTok video caption, Price wrote, “The puppy was whining a little, and the flight attendant boarding everyone walked up to her and said, if your dog doesn't quiet down, you may not be able to fly.”
Tensions escalated when the flight crew asked the woman to stow the carrier containing her dog under her seat, and she refused to comply. The situation further deteriorated when the dog's owner unzipped the carrier in an attempt to soothe her pet, which only served to infuriate the crew. Consequently, the flight crew made the decision to return to the gate and asked the woman to leave the plane.
In response to this, the woman expressed her frustration with the crew's decision, stating emphatically that she would never fly with Southwest Airlines again. She declared, “I'm not going to have you touch a thing of mine. You are rude. You are a mean person. And I will never fly Southwest again.”
Southwest Airlines addressed the incident, emphasizing that their employees are well-trained to ensure passengers adhere to flight policies and that the decision to remove the passenger was made after she repeatedly failed to comply with the airline's rules.
