News item: Woman denied emotional support peacock on United flight

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

When I am old and crazy I would like an Emotional Support and Mobility Horse to give me emotional support and ride me around everywhere. That way I won't need a mobility scooter either, just ride my horse.

I started Flight Sim when I was 12 therefore when I get to my seventies I will be crazy like a fox and will need a horse, and a western style saddle and dress up like the duke and shoot one liners at everyone...can't wait 

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

These threads always make me laugh. I flew on Delta today and behind me in the 3 seats were (drumroll) a young woman, a woman with a baby and a woman with a puppy in an approved carrier under her seat. 

The baby slept the whole way. The puppy did not make a sound. But the 3rd woman didn't stop talking and she had a loud voice like one of the rodents from Alvin and the Chipmunks. The rest of passengers were ready to kill her and resorted to wearing ear plugs and headphones.

You just never know.

[ErichB 3,642]

I'll just move swiftly on.  My view on this idiocy will be too extreme to contemplate.  

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

Another Emotional Support Animal got banned, this time a Hamster 

"A US university student is considering suing Spirit Airlines after it refused to allow her pet hamster on a flight, forcing her to flush the animal down an airport toilet." 

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article198971069.html

[harrry 322]

It has got out of hand.  Yes service animals help for a lot of illnesses, there are cases where these can be psychological, should be properly registered by an approved body.  As it is the idiots who want to take their rattlesnake are making it bad for everyone.

There is no reason an emotional support animal could not be a hamspter, small easy to take with you and something for the vunerable to stroke when in need of support.  It looks as if this one could have been one of the rare genuine ones.

[Christopher Low 5,353]

It's the "flushing the hamster down the toilet" part that annoys me. What the hell??

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

Yes I don't get the flushing part either, if that animal was that important to her she wouldn't flush it. We kept hamsters as kids and they were treated equally and cared for just as anything else in the house. No way we would flush a hamster down a toilet.

Having them as support animal seems harmless too but I think these days you could probably pay a doctor for just about anything, you have to draw the line somewhere

[harrry 322]

It looks to me that she really is someone who needed the support, when taken away from her and put under extra pressure she cracked.  Not nice, but in this case I do not think she was malicious.

 

[Captain Kevin 586]

Read somewhere that the main issue with the hamster was that if it got loose, it could easily chew through the wiring of the plane.

[Paraffin 2,197]

It's not just planes, this is getting out of hand everywhere. My local grocery store had to put a sign at the entrance saying that legit service animals (guides for the blind etc) are welcome, but please don't bring emotional support animals into the store. People are abusing this "emotional support" stuff so they don't have to leave their pets at home.

There is a growing sense of entitlement for this kind of thing, and I don't know how it started. I vaguely remember when people were more respectful of others around them. Can we blame social media? Everyone gets to live in a closed bubble of like-minded people now, including fans of "emotional support" pets. 

BTW, I'm not knocking any genuine help an animal gives to someone with autism or PTSD, but clearly this is being abused by many people now.

[188AHC 2,138]

Just a note, Spirit says the passenger was never told to "take the hamster outside and let it go, or to flush it". And there are no witnesses that have come forth to verify she was told this.  This is just another case of the media using too much color in a story. That's how trouble starts. It is much easier than telling the truth.

 

[HighBypass 2,339]

On 10/02/2018 at 6:07 PM, Paraffin said:

...I vaguely remember when people were more respectful of others around them. Can we blame social media?...

I hear you! & I'm only 51.. 

[Alan_A 1,650]

On 2/10/2018 at 1:22 PM, 188AHC said:

Just a note, Spirit says the passenger was never told to "take the hamster outside and let it go, or to flush it". And there are no witnesses that have come forth to verify she was told this.  This is just another case of the media using too much color in a story. That's how trouble starts. It is much easier than telling the truth.

Why should we automatically believe the corporation?

I make my living in corporate communications, and I don't.

[188AHC 2,138]

You have every right to believe whatever you wish as do I. I'm not buying her story about the "flushing" or releasing comments. It seems that no one else heard these comments either. Whether she told the media this hoping to reap a monetary benefit or to get her 15 minutes of fame has not yet been established. As for the media, I have little trust in them either. 

Unfortunately it is unlikely that any of us will ever know the absolute truth about this matter.

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

How about banning passengers with obvious symptoms of a cold/the flu? On my return trip this past week, an obviously sick and inebriated guy coughed all over me.