We’ve seen several recent situations in which someone is hostilely dragged off an airplane, and here’s the latest one. This woman was removed from a Southwest Airlines plane for having an allergy. Seriously. She said she was dangerously allergic to dogs, and that she had to fly from Baltimore to Los Angeles in order to make it for her father’s surgical procedure. But other passengers claimed to have an emotional service need for their canines. Apparently, Southwest’s policy is to take these emotional service declarations as more serious than a person’s allergies. They explained that, in order for this woman to fly on the plane, she would need to present a doctor’s note saying she was safe to travel. When she couldn’t produce such a document, they got the police involved.
I love animals, and I do love dogs. But we, as a society, must figure out what really constitutes a service animal. You can pretty easily purchase an emotional need certificate online, and many people do. In fact, many people do that so they don’t have to pay to travel with their pup. I can’t say whether the people on this plane with their dogs had real needs, but I can say that many don’t. Whereas allergies do lead to people’s deaths every year. Watch the video below.
Should dogs be allowed on planes? Should the airline have kicked off this lady? And what needs should be required to have your dog certified as a service animal? Leave your comments below.
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