I have flown both airlines...and while Southwest is my primary carrier of choice (due to the most non stop flights from my home airport)...I have enjoyed my flights on Frontier. I have never had bad customer service or unfriendly flight attendants on either airline. Change is a scary thing especially with this economy. My family has been through more than its fair share of ups and downs (mostly downs) with jobs in the past year. I hope that the Frontier employees that want to work for Southwest are welcomed with open arms and that an even more amazing Southwest emerges. This will be a trying time for everyone......I hope that the current Southwest employees can all show their new friends a bit of empathy. Nothing is certain these days....and nobody likes wondering where their next paycheck is coming from or if they will get one at all. We all need to take other people's feelings into account before we act or speak......and treat others how you would like to be treated if you were in their shoes, because you never know when/if you will be.
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Now to wait for my web enabled phone to be delivered....getting impatient! So many new toys!
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For those that think that allergy sufferers are just hypchondriacs.......please go visit the Allergy and Asthma Foundation's website at www.aafa.org. This is a paragraph taken directly from their website:
"Reactions to cat and dog allergens that land on the membranes that line eyes and nose include swelling and itching of the membranes, stuffy nose and inflamed eyes. A pet scratch or lick can cause the skin area to become red.
If allergen levels are low or sensitivity is minor, symptoms may not appear until after several days of contact with the pet.
Many airborne particles are small enough to get into the lungs. When inhaled, the allergens combine with antibodies. This can cause severe breathing problems—coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath—in highly sensitive people within 15 to 30 minutes. Sometimes highly sensitive people also get an intense rash on the face, neck and upper chest.
For about 20 percent to 30 percent of people with asthma, cat contact can trigger a severe asthma attack. Cat allergies also can lead to chronic asthma."
Honestly....for someone that has allergies to pet dander, being stuck on a plane with a cat or dog for hours really doesn't sound like fun, especially when anti-histamines don't always work to stop the reaction. It is pretty sad when the health of another human being is trumped by someone wanting to bring fluffy or fido with them on vacation. If Southwest can eliminate peanuts from a flight when a person is allergic, I find it a bit disheartening that they have (as of yet) no way of restricting pets when others are allergic.
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Cody,
In response to your comment that allergy sufferers like myself should have personal responsibility and bring allergy medications on board.
#1--I ALWAYS carry allergy medications with me.
#2--Once an allergic reaction starts and you take Benadryl, it does take a while for it to kick in (up to an hour)...and by the time it does, you are already feeling terrible or could be severely wheezing. So are you saying that I need to take Benadryl before every flight just in case someone brings a cat on board my flight? So I have to be the one that is too drowsy to drive when I get to my destination just because someone couldn't leave poor fluffy at home, kennel, or get a cat sitter?
#3--One of the reasons we have chosen in the past to fly Southwest is because of the no pet (except for service animals---which is 99.9% of the time dogs) policy. Now it won't really matter what carrier we fly. Southwest will probably lose at least half of our business.....which...in the grand scheme of things isn't much.....but I'm sure we won't be alone. I just don't see how they think that the increased business they will get from this policy will even come close to outweighing the loss of business from customers with allergies.
I'm just trying to figure out what happened to everyone on this earth that doesn't seem to care one bit about anyone else's health and well being but their own. I guess its just the selfish world we live in these days. I love animals.....but I would NEVER allow my pet to affect the health of another human being.
Michelle
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As a loyal customer for years, I am disappointed in your new pet policy. Both my husband and I have severe cat allergies. If we are in an enclosed space with a pet for more than 20-30 minutes we can develop a severe reaction including difficulty breathing. So, as a result of your new policy, we will have to fly feeling drugged and drowsy from Benadryl, which will definitely cause a big problem when we go to pick up our rental car at our destination. I can't see how this is fair to your loyal HUMAN travelers with allergies. For those of you that say that there are OTC antihistamines that do NOT cause drowsiness, that would be a great solution, if they actually helped against a severe allergy. Its sad that we will now have to limit OUR travel in order for you to allow NON humans on your planes. You have made planes peanut free if a customer states that they have an allergy, so I think the only fair thing to do is to set aside pet free flights (ie: only assign 1 daily flight per destination as a pets allowed flight). I hope you consider this change to your rules so we can all travel safely.
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