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Terrible ESA treatment by Flight Attendant

Chv
Explorer C

I have been a proud Southwest flyer for many years, having been impressed with their customer service and friendly flight attendants who have been accommodating to me at all time. However, after my most recent flight from STL to SJC on September 15, flight 2703, I had a nightmare of an experience. I frequently travel with my ESA animal, and she never causes any issues, however, during this trip, a male flight attendant made me feel very uncomfortable for the way he had treated me when I had put her down in the seat next to me temporarily in between my aunt and I. The trip is long and we wanted to feed her. As soon as I did so, he came by and made a scene out of the incident, saying that she was not at all allowed to sit on the seat, and that no part of her is to be on the seat whatsoever. He even said, “Do you understand what I am saying?” His tone was loud, and I have  never felt so condescended by a flight attendant like this in my life. She was not bothering anyone, and we simply wanted to feed her. I am aware that the animal is not to have its own seat (which it did not) and I am aware that the other option is that she sit on the ground, however, this type of treatment of passengers is completely unacceptable. He said, “if she can’t fit on your lap, then she needs to be on the ground!” - in a very loud manner. I felt humiliated and I felt this was unnecessary. I have taken my ESA animal on many flights and i have never encountered this type of condescending attitude from anyone. He was so unkind and so loud about it - which should never happen to anyone who needs to have an ESA animal with them.  Absolutely disgusted by this treatment. I feel that he could have been more polite about this, and after this incident, I don’t believe Southwest is ESA friendly at all. Has anyone else experienced something similar?

6 REPLIES 6

Re: Terrible ESA treatment by Flight Attendant

DfDrPepper_23
Frequent Flyer C

 @Chv 

 

I am so sorry to hear about the unfriendly incident. I have been hearing few passengers claimed that the FA has becoming unfriendly lately. I honestly don't know what is going on and I firmly believed that they possible are under stress lately.

 

I probably would have switched to another airlines. For a better services.

 

 

Re: Terrible ESA treatment by Flight Attendant

Chv
Explorer C

Thank you, I was pretty surprised because everyone sitting around looked uncomfortable too! What happened to their customer service? I’m so sad that they’ve gotten this way.

Re: Terrible ESA treatment by Flight Attendant

NicoleAshley
Employee
Employee

We know attitude is everything, and we're saddened to know we let you down, @Chv and @DfDrPepper_23 . As a peer-to-peer support forum, we are not equipped to assist you here, but we encourage you to reach out to us via the steps below. Thanks!

 

Submitting a Suggestion and/or Complaint

 

Nicole
Community Manager

Re: Terrible ESA treatment by Flight Attendant

dfwskier
Aviator A
Solution

Sorry to hear about your incident.

 

Filing a complaint with customer relations might be an avenue you want to investigate.

 

https://www.southwestaircommunity.com/t5/Knowledge-Base/Submitting-a-Suggestion-and-or-Complaint/ta-...

Re: Terrible ESA treatment by Flight Attendant

ffflyer
Frequent Flyer B

There's no excuse for rudeness.

 

Not to suggest that your ESA is dirty or anything but, I'm not sure I'd want to sit in a seat previously occupied by an animal. SW turns their planes around fast so I doubt they do much deep cleaning. 

Re: Terrible ESA treatment by Flight Attendant

Tardisgal
Explorer C

Just as an aside. The flight crew usually are the ones who clean the seats and I'm sure dog hair would be a concern. However, they could be better in manners. I had a few older attendants lately that were as rude as United.