Southwest passenger removed from flight for petting puppy: ‘Ridiculous’
They deemed it a pet-ty crime.
A passenger is up in arms after getting booted from a flight for allegedly petting her dog, as documented in a TikTok clip with 1.1 million views.
“Everyone around us was like, what’s going on here!?” wrote Sara Price, who uploaded a series of clips detailing her fellow passenger’s predicament, in the caption.
According to the video, the pet-tisoning occurred while the unnamed passenger was flying on a Southwest Airlines plane from Colorado back home to California with her 8-week-old puppy Sitka in tow.
Things went south after the pooch started to whine a little while she was waiting to take her seat.
“The flight attendant checking boarding passes came over and said, ‘If that dog continues to make noise you may not be able to fly,’ ” Price said in the caption.
The owner started petting the dog, which reportedly calmed it down right away — but that only exacerbated the situation.
After everyone was seated, the woman continued to pet Sitka through the top of the carrier. This prompted the same flight attendant to come over and declare that the crate had to be “zipped at all times and under the seat.”
According to Southwest’s pet policy, “pets must be secured in the pet carrier at all times while in the gate area, during boarding/deplaning, and for the entire flight. If you don’t follow this requirement, your pet may be denied transportation.”
Flabbergasted at the seemingly contradictory instructions, the bewildered owner said that she was just trying to calm her pet and thought she could wait until everyone boarded.
However, the employee told her to cease the mutt massage “now,” so she obliged, after which the pooch started whining again.
Price explained that things came to a head after the flyer, in an effort to ease Sitka’s tensions, resumed petting her pup through the mesh.
“The attendant dressed as a cat, came over and said, ‘Are we going to have a problem here?’ She said, ‘No it’s closed,’ ” recounted the TikToker. “The plane starts moving out of the gate. The attendants see her bend down to pet the puppy through the mesh but still fully zipped carrier.”
The flight crew subsequently gathered at the front of the plane and “decided we needed to return to the gate and that she should be removed from the flight.”
Accompanying footage shows the woman being escorted off a plane as she calls the flight attendant a “mean person” and vows to “never fly Southwest again.”
Meanwhile, a male passenger, who Price confirmed was her husband, told the ejected flyer, “We wish you the best of luck, honey… this is ridiculous.”
Elsewhere in the clip, he can be heard telling a flight attendant that he “should be ashamed.”
This rebuttal did not sit well with the cabin crew, who reportedly decided to eject Ms. Price and her husband as well over their “attitude.”
Thankfully, the ordeal had a happy landing: The three ejectees managed to catch the same United Airlines flight to California — an experience Price described as “fantastic.”
Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines has since defended their decision to remove the passenger from the flight.
“We’re aware of the videos and our initial reports indicate that the customer would not comply with keeping her dog’s kennel closed, which is our policy,” an airline representative told the Post. “Our Employees are trained to ensure customers are following protocol, and in this situation and after the customer repeatedly refused to comply with our crew’s instructions, the decision was made to deplane the disruptive passenger.”
Needless to say, TikTok found the trio’s punishment cruel and unusual given the “pet-y crime.”
“This woman didn’t deserve this treatment!” declared one outraged commenter, while another wrote, “Why does @Southwest Airlines hate puppies!?”
A third lauded Price and her hubby for calling out the alleged injustice.
“So sad this happened to that poor lady,” lamented one viewer. “I hope Southwest makes a statement and apologizes and compensates.”
