Air travel is really going to the dogs.
A United Airlines passenger was outraged after getting booted from their seat to accommodate a “service” canine, marking the second time a human traveler has been displaced by a canine commuter in just weeks.
“Totally absurd that an oversized dog can displace a paying passenger from their seat,” the flyer fumed in a Reddit post now taking off online.
The unidentified flyer had reportedly been boarding a flight to Denver when they noticed an “enormous ‘service’ dog” sitting in their seat, as seen in the accompanying photo.
“He was way too big to fit on the floor,” commented the Redditor, who alerted a crew member to the furry interloper, but she didn’t seem too bothered by it.
“The flight attendant was a few rows away and when asked if she saw the dog, she just shrugged,” they wrote.
At that point, the baffled passenger tried to resolve the situation with the aforementioned air bud’s owner, but this proved fruitless because the voyaging vertebrate couldn’t fit under the seat.
Since it was a full flight, the Redditor feared they’d be jettisoned from the aircraft by the space-hogging ball-fetcher.
And while that outcome fortunately didn’t transpire, they were forced to sit in another seat, while the dog occupied their air chair for the entire flight.
Taking a backseat to Bowser understandably did not sit well with the passenger.
“United needs to crack down on passengers abusing the ‘service’ animal allowance,” they raged. “How can someone be allowed onboard with a dog that big without buying an extra seat?”
They deemed this infraction a load of pitbull given that canines “can’t be in the aisle or the floor space of the travelers next to you,” per United Airlines policy.
The guidelines mandate that the animal should “sit in the floor space” in front of the owner’s seat.
“It is nasty to have a dog outside of a carrier sitting on passengers’ seats with his butt on the armrests,” the irate air traveler declared. “The gate agents carefully check the size [of] my carry-on, but apparently they don’t monitor the size of people’s ‘service’ dogs! WTH.”
Indeed, the friendly skies seem to be turning into a veritable dog heaven. Last month, a Delta passenger had to relinquish their plush first-class seat for a service pooch — like something out of a “Beethoven” movie.
When they contacted airline support, they were informed bipedal passengers may have to be relocated to accommodate service animals — and that there is “nothing they can do” in these situations.
