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April 17, 2004
A Dogs Tale...
On Thursday I was supposed to fly home during the day from Phoenix to New York. My family and I (including our new family member Roscoe) ended up instead taking a redeye flight arriving about twelve hours later than we expected.
Having never traveled with a dog of my own before, I had no clue with regard to airline rules for pets in the passenger cabins or the extent that some airlines enforce some rules that otherwise do not make much sense to humans.
After Roscoe became part of our family, I called America West and ordered a ticket which allowed for him to be with me in the plane cabin. At that moment, I was told that there was no one else on the plane who requested such a permit which it turns out was important to know since they are supposed to only sell one such ticket in their first class cabin and three dog tickets in their coach cabin.
What happened on flight America West Flight 14 before it left the gate was a traumatic experience which has tainted my desire to ever fly on America West again.
There were no problems at all until we were already on board the plane waiting at the gate to push off. We happened to be in the first class cabin of the airplane and it turned out that there a couple which was also traveling with a dog.
I realized that something was up when the husband of the other couple offered me $50 to have one of my kids take our dog and sit in coach for the entire flight. Rather than engaging him in coversation, I just ignored him.
When one of the flight attendants heard a peep out of the other small dog she took out her flight manual and looked for the paragraph to cite which enforced their version of the only one dog in first class rule. A few minutes a gate agent came on board and told me
that I had to give up my first class seat and move to coach with my new dog, saying that I purchased my plane ticket after the other couple purchased their ticket and as a result of their action, the person in coach whose seat I took was given a free upgrade to first class. This whole thing happened as one big blur and the experience didn't go over well with either myself or my wife, Risa. I did not understand why if I had a ticket for my dog that I would have to move to coach and be seperated from my family. It wasn't my fault that America West sold me a ticket for Roscoe that they shouldn't have. Why should I be the one they took action with?
While I was moving to the back of the plane, Risa did share her feeling of displeasure with the gate attendant who told her that she would not discuss this matter any further. The gate agent's supervisor then boarded the flight and for reasons I still don't understand told my wife she had to get off of the plane. This in turn shocked my kids and I only found out about what was happening when I heard their shreks / screams from the sheer fear of what was going on around them from my seat in coach.
Five minutes later we are all off the plane, including my mother-in-law who was traveling with us and for added dramatic effect we were also greeted by two local Phoenix Police officers. At that time, our children were still hysterical and the same America West supervisor who removed Risa from the flight, told her that she should "hush up our children". These group of flight attendents were the most discusting / non-friendy, non-kind group of people I have ever been in contact with in the travel industry.
15 minutes later the plane leaves with our luggage still on the plane and my family leaving terminal 4 in Phoenix with our tickets refunded and a bitter experience to share the with the rest of the flying world.
Posted by jeff on April 17, 2004 12:29 AM | Permalink
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