United Airlines passenger claims they lost seat to large service dog: ‘Absurd’
A United Airlines customer said they were forced to give up their seat for a service dog as their flight boarded.
The plane was heading to Denver International Airport from San Francisco International Airport.
According to the passenger’s Reddit post, they noticed the dog sitting in their assigned seat as they made their way through the aisles.
The “enormous” canine was “way too big to fit on the floor,” the passenger wrote. When the passenger approached a flight attendant about the animal in her seat, the flight attendant allegedly shrugged in response.
“My husband and I tried to resolve it with the passenger but there was no way that dog could fit under his legs in his window seat,” the customer continued. “Since we were told that it was a completely full flight, and the dog was taking my seat, I thought I was going to get bumped off the flight by this dog.”
An airline representative reportedly later boarded the flight to quash the situation but could not persuade the dog’s owner to move the animal. In the end, flight attendants managed to locate another seat for the passenger.
“The dog stayed on my seat for the whole flight,” the complaining customer wrote. “Totally absurd that an oversized dog can displace a paying passenger from their seat.”
The customer then called on the airline to crack down on passengers “abusing” the service animal allowance.
“How can someone be allowed onboard with a dog that big without buying an extra seat?” the passenger asked.
“It is nasty to have a dog outside of a carrier sitting on passengers’ seats with his butt on the armrests. The gate agents carefully check the size of my carry-on but apparently they don’t monitor the size of people’s ‘service’ dogs.”
The reported incident marks the second in two weeks involving a paying customer needing to give up their airplane seat for an animal, per the NY Post.
The Independent has emailed United Airlines for comment.
The airline’s website states a service dog should sit in the floor space in front of a passenger’s seat and cannot be in the aisle or floor space of the travelers next to them.
A service dog can be in a pet-carrier if it meets size requirements. Passengers only need to buy seats next to them if they’re bringing two service animals on a flight.
