Woman Brings 50 Pound Pit Bull On Plane And Places Him In Fellow Passenger's Seat — 'Where's My Refund?'
Should there be more restrictions on emotional support animals on flights?
@just_juanie via Twitter / David Prada Perucha via Shutterstock A woman knew she was in for a long flight after she discovered her neighbor had a 50-pound pitbull flying with her. That was only the beginning of the catastrophes that would follow throughout the four-hour adventure.
The passenger discovered the 50-pound pitbull in her seat as she boarded the plane.
Twitter user @just_juanie shared a thread detailing her nightmare flight aboard a Delta aircraft where her fellow seatmate was a woman and her emotional support dog named Binky. She claims that the dog’s owner asked her if she would be willing to give up her seat for the dog before the flight.
However, she clearly did not care if the answer was a no, as she decided to place her dog in the seat anyway.
“So…I’m next to a yt [white] girl who just asked if I would give up my seat for her pit bull. When I got to my seat she had the pit bull in my seat,” Juanie wrote in a tweet that has been viewed over 4 million times.
Photo: Twitter /@just_juanie
After Juanie asked to have her booked seat back, she reports that the woman acted as if she was the one being “unreasonable.” “All for emotional support animals. In your fricken seat,” she wrote, emphasizing the absurdity of the situation. “So now we’re all sitting here looking crazy,” Juanie shared, adding that passengers flying with large dogs should book their own seats.
The troubles did not end there. Juanie updated Twitter users throughout her flight as the woman and her pit bull continued to inconvenience her and other passengers.
“The woman now stands up in her seat and in the aisle seat to get in and out of her row so her dog can walk on the ground since they both can’t walk out of the row normally. This is crap,” she wrote. “This flight is four hours and some change and the dog is now restless. I am just…I’m back to being upset.”
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Juanie acknowledges that the dog was well-behaved on the flight, and she blames his owner for putting him and other passengers through discomfort.
She reveals that the dog was “fine” and “non-problematic.” “It isn’t the dog’s fault,” Juanie tweets. Instead, she blames the dog’s owner and Delta Airlines for allowing him on board. “Me and the woman on the aisle now have dog hair on us. It’s just too much,” Juanie admitted.
In addition to being covered in dog hair, the dog “blemished” Juanie’s purse as well as the purse of their other seatmate. The dog owner lightly scolded him in a video posted by Juanie.
To top off the nightmare flight, the dog’s owner also used her vape illegally on the plane. “Where’s my refund…where are my credits? I need them now!” Juanie asks of Delta.
Some Twitter users believed that emotional support dogs should not be allowed on flights unless they could fit into carrier bags.
“What if you were allergic!? It drives me nuts when people bring dogs on a plane without a carrier bag - emotional support or not,” one user pointed out.
“That’s out of line. When I fly with my dog he’s in a carrier UNDER the seat. People really shouldn’t be able to have non-service dogs on seats,” another user shared.
A representative from Delta discovered Juanie’s thread and the airline is looking into the matter.
“My name is Kay with Delta. I am sorry to hear of this. This is not allowed. Please send me a Private Message using the link provided to continue our conversation,” the representative wrote in a tweet.
According to the Delta website, the airline allows trained service animals for qualified individuals with a disability. However, they “no longer recognize” emotional support animals as service animals. In addition, most airlines require that both service animals and emotional support animals remain on the floor at the owner's feet during all phases of flight — not in a passenger seat.
If you are planning on flying with your emotional service animal, please double-check the airline guidelines and ensure that they will not inconvenience your fellow passengers.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.