True Stories #415 - A Pet Peeve

A Frontier airlines flier boarded with her emotional support animal. The result was chaos.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
I'm Seth Andrews, and what you're about to hear is
a true story. October twenty eighteen, there was a woman
who to date has still not been named in all
the news reports about this. She boarded her Frontier Airline's

(00:24):
flight departing Orlando and bound for Cleveland in tow. She
had her emotional support animal, which had been properly documented.
She did the right thing. She contacted the airline. She
filled out the form, paid the fee, and assured them
that yes, the animal would be carried on in a
proper container. But these days the issue of emotional support

(00:47):
animals has become so contentious. Many airlines, restaurants, department stores, etc.
Have become very weary and suspicious about dogs, cats, et
cetera support animals, when in fact it might just be
somebody who wants to take Fluffy with them on the trip.
And then what animals are acceptable? Is there are size limits?

(01:11):
How do restaurants handle health codes when an animal is
hanging around food and customers? So this has become a
contentious issue, and it was back in twenty eighteen on
that Frontier plane, cabin crew knew when somebody was trying
to exploit the rules, and this was certainly one of
those cases. So they politely went up to the woman

(01:34):
and they said, look, I'm very sorry, but we're not
going to be able to do this. We need you
to deplane, go back up to the desk and figure
this out, and you can catch a different flight. The
woman refused. The flight attendants insisted, I'm very sorry, but
we really do need you to leave your seat, go
back up the jet bridge and figure this out. Speck

(01:57):
in the airport terminal, women would not budge. Passengers all
around began to get involved. They're saying, look, you're gonna
make me late for my connection. I'm going to be
late getting home or do a meeting or whatever. Just
get off the plane. Leave the plane. This woman would
not budge until because she wouldn't leave, the cabin crew

(02:19):
was forced to deplane. Everybody else on that frontier flight.
We're sorry if she won't go, everybody has to get
off for safety reasons. Oh, those people were so mad.
Uniformed police officers arrived. They went down the jet bridge,
boarded the plane, and they escorted the woman away without

(02:42):
any resistance. Airport video showed this woman still agitated, still
holding the animal container. Walking in the company of cops
as the other passengers packed around the gate were yelling, Yeah,
there's the crazy lady. They were jeering and giving her
the finger. Many people applauded as she was taken away.

(03:04):
Now she wasn't charged with any crime, she was just
escorted out of the Orlando Airport. Psychology Today recently covered
the use and the misuse of emotional support animals or
essays how many people ignore or exploit federal laws just
because they want to get their pets into places that

(03:27):
don't allow pets. What's the difference between a dog that
just makes you happy, an actual trained service dog, or
an EESA. Well, sometimes it's an honest mistake. People get
confused about what is what. There are websites saying that, hey,
you can just log on here, pay a few bucks,

(03:47):
and register, and then you'll be qualified to take your
pet pretty much anywhere. That's false. The United States does
not have a legally recognized registry for ESA. It's also
not true that emotional support animals can automatically enter public
spaces that ban pets. Under the American Disabilities Act, trained

(04:11):
service dogs have access to bars, museums, and grocery stores.
They can live in no pet apartments, condos and dorms,
but those same service dogs in the dorms are not
allowed in classrooms, libraries, or cafeterias. There are rules. Service
animals get access, but they don't get all access. And again,

(04:36):
those are trained service dogs to help the disabled. This
is something much different than an emotional support animal. Essays
claimed to help people who have various mental health issues
like PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Legally, to qualify for an
essay you have to have an official letter from a

(04:58):
health professional, and the that term is slippery. It's supposed
to be a doctor or a psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker,
but nearly a quarter of essay owners they just get
their permission slips from commercial websites. Beyond that, the American
Psychiatric Association does not even recommend that psychiatrists write ESA

(05:22):
letters for their patients because there is no definitive evidence
that the animals actually help. Oh, I'm going to let
you argue with the APA over that one. Have I
taken my own little dog into a store? Have I
sat him under an outdoor cafe table? Have I taken
him on an airplane? You bet? And did that give

(05:45):
me great comforts absolutely what I call him an emotional
support animal. Well, apparently there are still tons of gray
areas and loopholes to exploit. Yet those loopholes did not
cover the belligerent woman on that Frontier flight to Cleveland

(06:06):
back in twenty eighteen. That woman confronted and ultimately ousted
for her support animal. And she could have saved herself
and the other passengers so much time and energy, angst,
trouble delays, etc. If only she had bothered to fill
out one line on the pet carry on airline form

(06:28):
at the very beginning. If only she had taken her
pen and written the word squirrel. A squirrel on an airplane. Well,
it happened for just a few minutes in twenty eighteen
in Orlando, and it is a true story. True Stories

(06:53):
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