Video: Disabled Veteran kicked off U.S. Airways flight

A video on YouTube was posted after a Vietnam War Veteran was removed from a U.S. Airways flight.

The disabled vet was accompanied by a Golden Retriever service dog and was removed because the airline wanted the dog to lay on the floorboard by the man's feet for takeoff and landing instead of in a seat.


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The Dog is too big to be put on the floor. The floor does not have safety belts either. It would have been uncomfortable for the dog. It is much safer for the dog to be on the seat but since the vet probably did not pay for two seats, they made him get his dog off the seat and finally off the plane. The man knows his rights, and there is no law says you cannot put your dog on the seat. So if any safety expert on ATS please explain to us how in the world a dog on the airplane floor would be safe. Otherwise, I wonder what would you do when you're senior citizen who is disabled for whatever reason and want to get on the plane.

They probably wanted the dog to lay on the floor for safety reasons. It is probably an airline policy that all service animals have to abide by.

Just because you are a disabled vet doesn't mean you can skirt around policies other disabled people have to follow.

reply to post by MystikMushroom


In the event of an accident on landing it's a little safer for them on the floor than in a seat since you can't belt them in. Even in a carrier they usually have to be on the floor fir takeoff and landing.

It would be one thing if he had a small dog, but he didn't. I've been their planes numerous times and there's hardly enough room for a backpack on the floor, much less a full grown Golden Retriever. They let him on the plane with a large breed dog so they should let the animal lay where it can be comfortable and if that means in an empty seat, so be it. People commented saying that he had no right using cuss words but than again, if the flight crew had never screwed with him in the 1st place this whole mess would have never went down in the way it did. I say good on him, give'em hell. And that moron that started clapping near the end...karma is a real -----!

reply to post by UndergroundMilitia


Just because you have a service dog doesn't mean you get to break all the rules. There is a reason animals are put on the floor for takeoff and landing.

Those are the most dangerous portions of flight. If the dog was in a seat and something happened he could be shot out of the seat like a missile.
That's going to lead to injuries to both the dog and people around him. It would be one thing if you could belt them in, but you can't.

The rest of the flight if he wants to lay on the seats, have at it, but those two portions of the flight require all animals to be on the floor, service dog or not.

Zaphod58
reply to post by UndergroundMilitia

 

Just because you have a service dog doesn't mean you get to break all the rules. There is a reason animals are put on the floor for takeoff and landing.

Those are the most dangerous portions of flight. If the dog was in a seat and something happened he could be shot out of the seat like a missile.
That's going to lead to injuries to both the dog and people around him. It would be one thing if you could belt them in, but you can't.

The rest of the flight if he wants to lay on the seats, have at it, but those two portions of the flight require all animals to be on the floor, service dog or not.

Again, "there's hardly enough room for a backpack on the floor, much less a full grown Golden Retriever. They let him on the plane with a large breed dog so they should let the animal lay where it can be comfortable and if that means in an empty seat, so be it."

If there's a problem on landing or take off, the occupants of that plane have much more too worry about than a dog that will end up squished on the floor or in his master's lap anyway... Otherwise, the airline should have insisted that the man crate the dog in the cargo hold. I'd be more worried about the cell phones, iPads and laptops that would flying through the air like shurikens.

reply to post by UndergroundMilitia


If there was an empty seat next to him there was room for the dog for the (usually) twenty or thirty minutes for takeoff and less for landing. The dog can also sit between the seats, he just has to be on the floor.

Yes because a seven ounce Ipad is so much worse than a seventy pound Golden Retriever that can bite and claw if it's scared when something happens.

reply to post by Zaphod58


I'd love to split hairs with you but the bottom line is that the airline is responsible by not communicating effectively. If this guy was told that his dog must be on the floor prior to boarding, than that's one thing but we do not have that information. But I'm willing to betcha, by this man's reaction...he was told no such thing.

After watching the video, the veteran was a total disgrace to his branch of service.

I've flown a few times and pretty sure I would have laid down in the aisle if I was allowed.

Put the dog down in the aisle and move along...problem solved

reply to post by UndergroundMilitia


And I'm willing to bet that he has down before with the dog and knew. Or he had looked to see what the rules were, and decided he was entitled to special treatment.

Parents are allowed to hold their children unbuckled in their lap for take off so why shouldn't this man be allowed to hold on to his working dog for take off?

There are laws in place. If the airline has a policy it wont override the laws. If the airline demands that the dog is on the ground then they need to provide a seat with enough leg room for it.

reply to post by BristolStew

Excerpt from the FINAL RULE on Air Carriers Access Act
General Requirements of Part 382

In a nutshell, the main requirements of Part 382 regarding service animals are:

> Carriers shall permit a service animal to accompany a qualified individual with a disability in any seat in which the person sits, unless the animal obstructs an aisle or other area that must remain unobstructed in order to facilitate an emergency evacuation or to comply with FAA regulations.

After watching the entire video here are my thoughts...

The flight crew said they smelled alcohol on his breath. He is beligerent. He is rude. He is using foul language and there is a little girl 2 rows behind him!! Shame on him. I feel sorry for him. He is apparently not right and I appreciate his service to our country and the way he has been treated for that service, but, he is not being a good citizen.

With that being said...WTH is taking TSA so long??????? OMG.

The man should have left the plan and had the conversation with them on the jetway. He was not going to fly anyway. They told him that. All he is doing now is delaying EVERYONE else on that flight and subjecting them to his private hell.

The way I feel this should have been handled would have been to say...this plane is full, this plane is packed. Can you please put the dog at your feet until the seatbelt sign goes off? Meet him half way..

Diplomacy..sheeshh...what happened to that?

But now, he probably got fined for his actions.

I feel bad for the other passengers. Especially the children. How scary for them. Shame on this man. Shame shame shame.

reply to post by PsykoOps


There is room between two seats for a dog to sit or lay for the short amount of time between pushback and takeoff. There are so few service dogs flying in the cabin that no airline is going to remove seats to make room for them.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Why could they not have put him in a bulk head seat with more room??? Surely they could have done that or he could have asked. I used to request it all the time when my daughter was a toddler. It was just easier..for everyone. LOL

Zaphod58
reply to post by UndergroundMilitia

 

And I'm willing to bet that he has down before with the dog and knew. Or he had looked to see what the rules were, and decided he was entitled to special treatment.

Assumption... Again, we don't know so there's no way to place the blame on the man.

reply to post by k21968



I accidentally gave you a star; this new layout is seriously messed up. Here is my answer to you, from that video, alcohol does not cause such reaction, he was sober enough to control himself to a great extent that he even apologized to the passengers and no he did not use foul language so do not claim something did not happen. In the video description, the person who took the video said that after they kicked him off the plane, the reaction from passengers was supportive towards him.


This is a service dog and not a regular pet. He is larger than the space under seat, do the math and any human being with conscious would not subject any animal to any unnecessary suffering. And I wish if you could share with us your travel adventures when you become senior citizen who is very ill to walk and had to obtain a service dog just like that old man, what would you do then?

I've never understood the concept of having a pet. There's nothing desirable about it to me. Does that make me a bad person? Seriously, it makes it hard for me to fairly judge situations like this.

My honest reaction is to tell the guy to leave if he doesn't want to follow the rules. It's not his plane. He can go buy his own jet, then he can make his own rules and lay down in a ball pit full of dogs and ferrets and snakes and all the other ridiculous animals that somehow count as "service animals".

What disability does he have that a golden retriever helps him overcome? I can understand seeing eye dogs and animals that actually make some kind of sense, but you get too many people that use the "service animal" angle as an excuse to just staple an entire zoo to their bodies and then spend all their time invading your personal space and letting their ferrets play with fruit at the grocery store.

reply to post by k21968


And you need to tell the difference between an angry man and a drunk man. In today's society, anybody gets frustrated and gets angry would be labeled as lunatic and they don't even know what went with that man. Walk his shoes and learn what's going on before you judge him. I will give you a little challenge, go to New York and see how many people would help you if anything happened to you. I guarantee you it would be close to 0 that's because nobody cares and when that happens you would start acting like that old man. Nobody cared enough to stand up for him, they were just taking a video of the incident. Have you heard of karma?

reply to post by Zaphod58


God, the ignorance around here sometimes is astonishing.

Next, blind people should just deal with it. You're blind - you're not as good as the rest of us. You're going to bump into things, and you deserve to, because you're blind. Stop complaining, go read a braile, lolercopters.

Deaf people should just deal with it. You're deaf. Stop making so much na na na noises you retards. You're not going to hear me as I say HA HA as you try to talk in sign language. Also, you're probably slow. I heard that deaf people are slow. Yeah, slow and stupid deaf people. Stop making such a fuss, deal with it.

Wheel chairs really annoy me, asking for ramps. It's not as if you deserve it, your legs don't work. Stop complaining. It's not as if you're going to win any races you stupid disabled retarded people. Legs. You don't have them.

Handicapped.. You deserve to be treated like less then anyone else, because if you didn't you wouldn't be handicapped. Got it? Now shut up your whinging and sooking, learn your place in society and just shut up.

Unless you're mute. Then just go away.

AMIRITE?

no?

pfft.

Zaphod58
Yes because a seven ounce Ipad is so much worse than a seventy pound Golden Retriever that can bite and claw if it's scared when something happens.

jesus wept...