Pets and opinions on SW not welcome on flights

[Magnum1969]

I just watched a video on TikTok of a woman that was kicked off a plane because she was told to keep her puppy quiet that was in a carrier, when she tried to she was then told that she was being removed from the flight. Several people on the plane were not happy with SW and one man got up and told the captain that what just occurred was not right and that the flight crew should be ashamed. He was then advised by the captain that he and his wife were also being kicked off the same flight…..this is absolutely disgusting, disgraceful and disrespectful to all. 

I can guarantee you that if I ever find myself having to fly with an airline SW will definitely not be one of any of my choices…. I’ll drive across the country first.  That Captain and the entire flight crew should be immediately fired for showing such contempt and disrespect to the people that help keep your company in business. I will be sharing this series of videos with all my friends and family all over Canada and the US. 

if you want to fix things then fire them all, and retrain all your flight crews.  Plus the woman with the dog still as of yesterday hasn’t been fully refunded, you still owe her the  carry on fees for the pet carrier. 

[SoCalFlyer97]

This news story was brought up earlier this week on a different topic thread on this forum:

https://community.southwest.com/t5/Inflight-Experience/Customer-service-fail-booting-customer-for-ca...

I'm not taking any sides to this pet story. I saw the video of the woman getting ejected. I heard at least one passenger voicing support for the woman in the clip. I saw the TikTok user's comments in the video captions and description as well as the follow up clips. But I don't know the full extent of the lead-up of the incident. I'm still flying the LUV Airline.

However, I do believe a bunch of the social media posts and websites that are parroting this video all over the world to see are not reporting all of the facts and possibly running into the risk of unfairly defaming Southwest and the staff member who escorted the woman off the plane with headlines like "Woman kicked off Southwest Flight for petting her dog".

Yes, the TikTok video is hard evidence that the woman got ejected by the airline and captured the opinions of at least one other passenger supporting the woman, but the 38 second recording doesn't cover everything, nor the lead-up to Southwest's decision to refuse to transport. I'm also not able to verify the TikTok user's claims.

According to the few outlets in the mainstream press who took the time to fact check and made an effort to try to find out what happened beforehand, Southwest's decision to remove the passenger was made after the woman repeatedly refused to comply with the flight crew's instructions regarding the proper handling of her pet according to an official statement. I do know for a fact that refusing to obey the instructions of any crew member is grounds for refusal to transport. I think this fact alone makes all those headlines (e.g. "Woman Removed From Flight For Petting Dog") inaccurate and possibly unfair or defaming to the airline. The headline could in fact very well be "Woman Removed from Southwest Flight for Refusal to Cooperate with Crew Instructions to Comply with FAA Pet Regulations."

I personally don't mind some puppy noise during travel; I've heard worse things aboard planes, trains, and automobiles. I have the headphones to screen these out. But other passengers may prefer not and some may even have pet allergies, hence strict policy. Did anybody else on the flight complain to an FA about a puppy making noise which led up to the initial request? I don't know.

But I do know the required stowing of pet carry-on's during taxi and take-off falls also under the FAA, not only to Southwest.

https://www.faa.gov/travelers/fly_pets/cabin_pets

Long story short, it would be foolish for me to take sides on this given the doubt. I don't know what the actual lead up is to this. Frequent travelers like me have likely had some crew instructions given to us that we don't like, but we need to obey them per FAA regulations and better yet, for the good of the flight. But as a frequent Southwest traveler, I would be very careful about making travel decisions based on one person's point of view published to social media regarding a pet incident, even if that point of view gets a viral worldwide reaction.

[dfwskier]

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@Magnum1969 wrote:

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You're late to the party. This was covered in another thread earlier this week. Maybe you should read it.

https://community.southwest.com/t5/Inflight-Experience/Customer-service-fail-booting-customer-for-ca...

[parpitt1]

That would not have fit the "planned agenda" of the OP.

[floridaguy]

The bottom line here is that Southwest MESSED up - YET AGAIN - and in a big way.

How many public relations DISASTERS will they have?

[gsking]

Until they have one that affects me, or I see it in person, I won't be cutting off my nose to spite my face by not flying SWA.

Too many people get their jollies by posting garbage in the internet trying to go viral.  Therefore, I don't trust the one sided click bait they offer up.

Especially on Tiktok. 🤦🏼‍♂️