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Targeted, discrimanted against, harassed and embarrassed by flight attendant on flight

Jazzytrakstar
Explorer C

I'm a young black woman/active duty soldier traveling home with two 4-pound Yorkies to visit parents before an impending deployment. This isn't my first time traveling with pets on Southwest.


The flight attendant I speak of was working the very front section of the plane. I was sitting near the back at a window seat.


While boarding, I proceed to settle in a row behind the exit row (because I know I can't occupy the exit row with pets). This flight attendant startles me by essentially yelling that I can't sit there. I tell her that it's not the exit row. She responds even louder that I can't sit there with "those dogs". 


20 min before landing: This flight attendant comes directly to my row with what I assume to be a manifest and tells me that my dogs aren't on the paper. I tell her that I paid. She responds well they're not on here. I repeat that I paid and tell her I have a receipt. With disdain in her voice and disgust on her face, she asks to she it, reads it and returns it to me. The flight attendant of my section tells this attendant that sometimes it doesn't show up. Looking for somethinf else ro berate me about, this flight attendant asks me are they pets. I say yes. Then she says we'll they can't be in your lap. The reason I took them out because they were anxious and panting and I was attempting to console them but I just respond with an "ok" and proceed to put them away. She is still standing at my row. I ask are you going to watch me put them away. She curtly responds with yes. I'll never forget the look of disgust on her face.

 

Not only did this attendant publicly embarrass me, but I felt as if I was targeted and discriminated against based on my appearance. I was dressed in very casual clothing and wearing a hoodie because my hair wasn't styled. I have had tens of flights on Southwest, and I've never been accused of openly smuggling dogs on board. I ALWAYS pay the pet fee and get the display the tag on my carrier.

 

How do I go about addressing the appropriate people of this incident and receive an apology?

 

 

2 REPLIES 2

Re: Targeted, discrimanted against, harassed and embarrassed by flight attendant on flight

bec102896
Aviator A

@Jazzytrakstar

 

First off thank you for your service!

 

I'm very sorry to hear about your experience on your most recent flight. Not to take sides but I do know the policy is that pets that are not service animals should remain under the seat in front of them at all times I understand the attitude may not have been the nicest but that is the policy for pets and surely the Flight Attendant could have been nicer. I would highly recommend you reach out to customer relations on Monday at 855-234-4654 so they can document your complaint and look in to the matter further.

 

you can also send a message to Southwest on Facebook or Twitter and they can assist you there but I would still recommend calling or you can write Southwest a letter but unfortunately Southwest won't be able to assist here since this is a customer to customer forum. 

 

I hope your future flights are much better than this most recent one!

Blake 

Re: Targeted, discrimanted against, harassed and embarrassed by flight attendant on flight

bgubs14
Frequent Flyer C

That’s terrible ! Definitely reach out to southwest and let them know what happened . It seemed like she was trying to discern whether they were pets or service animals but her questions were definitely out of line. I’ve seen similar situations in other flights and flight attendants never act this way.