While many airlines allow furry companions to travel with, one passenger received criticism after his dog blocked his seatmate’s legroom.
In a post on Reddit, in the A slightly irritating threadA user shared a photograph taken by his father from the airplane seat.
The snapshot shows him sitting with his legs in front of him and the large canine partially obstructing the allotted space in the footwell.
“My dad is on a 20 hour flight back from South Africa and said he had about 40 screwdrivers. When I asked him why, he sent me this,” the caption on Reddit read, without revealing which airline.
In an edit to the post, the user, who posted under the name benjaminrogers91, clarified that he was slightly exaggerating about the time spent on the plane and the amount of alcoholic beverages his father had consumed.
In a Reddit post on the Mildly Infuriating thread, one user shared a photo taken by his father from his airplane seat.
“The 40 drinks and 20 hours thing is an exaggeration, by the way. I think the actual flight lasts between 16 and 18 hours,” he wrote.
In the comments, people debated whether or not the dog’s owner should have been more restrained.
“Some people have a real fear of dogs and/or animals in general. This would have been a very stressful situation for me if I was the one forced to sit with the dog like this,” one user wrote.
“I’ve had flights where the person’s dog kept trying to jump on my lap. It’s RIDICULOUS. Not everyone wants their dog in their little personal space. If you can’t contain it, don’t take it,” another person fumed.
“This right is more than slightly infuriating,” another agreed.
‘I hope the airline made up for it. We were sitting in a bulkhead row on a flight, a woman came on with a large, incredibly smelly “service dog” and sat across from us in the aisle.
“A couple refused to sit next to her. I mean, they refused. They got off the plane. I hope the airline refunds their ticket, because I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same,” another person shared.
“There’s no way I would let this fly,” another passenger said.
“My dad is on a 20 hour flight back from South Africa and he said he had about 40 screwdrivers. When I asked him why, he sent me this,” the caption on Reddit read, without revealing which airline (file image)
In the comments, people debated whether or not the dog owner should leave his pet locked up.
“Book two adjacent seats or fly first class to make room. Invading another person’s space and contaminating their clothes, shoes and carry-on luggage seems crazy to me. Ask a flight attendant to move or have the owner restrain their pet,” they advised.
In June, a United Airlines customer shared her experience of having to fly with a dog at her feet.
“He’s a very sweet dog, but clearly not a service dog,” she wrote alongside a photo of the furry dog in her home.
“He was in my legroom for the entire flight (including takeoff and landing). The owner tried to move the dog, but couldn’t; he was too big and didn’t want to move,” they shared.
Many people said that the passenger had the right to complain, either to the flight attendants during the trip or to the airline after landing.
One person said something similar happened to them on a flight and after complaining through the airline’s app, they received 10,000 miles.
In the United States, it is not uncommon to see pets on board a domestic flight, as long as they meet certain weight and size requirements, while in other countries, passengers’ pets may be restricted from traveling in cargo.