Maltreatment of passengers

[drglennking]

Is anyone else disturbed by the Facebook video of police officers mistreating a woman on a Southwest plane, allegedly because of some issue with her allergies? The problem is compounded by the officers attempting to avoid scrutiny by telling other passengers to turn off their phones. Why did Southwest start this series of events and do they condone such official behavior? Southwest has long been my favorite airline, but incidents like this make me think twice.

[CareforNOLA]

Southwest's announcement regarding the incident to which you are referring.

https://www.southwestaircommunity.com/t5/Southwest-Stories/Response-to-Customer-Incident-on-Flight-1...

[m1waters]

This doesn't surprise me at all. As a frequent flier of SW,  I have seen many instances of SW catering to passengers with bogus "service animals"  over the needs of passengers with allergies to dogs. The irony is that the passenger with an allergy must produce documentation of their allergy but passengers with "service animals" don't have to provide any proof that their animal provides any necessary service to the passenger. Southwest Sucks!

[drglennking]

I think "sucks" is going too far. In my experience Southwest has been better than other airlines in most respects. They have publicly apologized, but a clearer explanation is needed and so are policy changes. As for the police involved, I'll give them this: they asked for recording devices to be turned off instead attacking those doing the recording as some other cops have done in the past. On the other hand they're piling on charges against the woman, obviously to cover their asses. I'm embarrassed to see any Maryland law enforcement behaving this way. Southwest should protest to them. In addition I wonder if the apparently Middle Eastern appearance (and name, I think) of the woman had anything to do with the way she was treated by police or airline personnel.