[nagdu] Incident with Southwest Airlines

Sun Jul 11 20:00:09 UTC 2010

Thanks for all the feedback. I've contacted someone from this list off
list and will follow up with her regarding contacting Southwest. I've
got the facts in the email I sent you guys and with a little editing,
such as including the names and flight details, it's something I can
definitely send on to southwest for their records. I looked on the
travel policy area of their website yesterday and did not see anything
in their policies that states where a blind person with a guide dog
should sit. In fact, going from memory, it said basically that they
could sit anywhere in the cabin. Unless they're using a different set
of policies than they've made available on their site, I'd say that
the first flight atendant clearly crossed the line when she said that
I had to sit in the front row, for whatever reason.

Thanks again all for your feedback. Keep it coming and I'll update you
as things move forward.

Sincerely,
Wayne and Gucci

On 7/10/10, Sherri <flmom2006 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Wayne, I think that sending this letter to SouthWest, but with an
> explanation that you don't want the attendant reprimanded, but rather,
> educated would be a good thing to do.
> Sherri
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Julie J" <julielj at windstream.net>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 3:11 PM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Incident with Southwest Airlines
>
>
>> Wayne,
>>
>> I think what you have written in your email is very good.  I think if it
>> were me, I'd base my letter to Southwest on that.  It covers all the
>> facts, illustrates your concerns and feelings about the situation very
>> well.
>>
>> JMO
>> Julie
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Wayne Merritt" <wcmerritt at gmail.com>
>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 2:34 PM
>> Subject: [nagdu] Incident with Southwest Airlines
>>
>>
>>> Greetings all. You're the first that I've told about this incident, so
>>> pardon any rambling. I've just gotten hoem from the convention, which
>>> was awesome by the way, but had an incident on my flight on Southwest
>>> today. This was the ffirst time something like this has happened to me
>>> in the 18 or so years I've been flying on Southwest. When I got on the
>>> plane I was told by a flight attendant that I had to sit in the front
>>> row in order to give more room to my dog guide. When I attempted to
>>> argue the point, she said that I had to sit there. I had asked someone
>>> before boarding what the capacity of the fligh twas and they said that
>>> there was 100 out of 137 total seats. When I attempted to ask for
>>> another seat, I was told by this flight attendant that I had to sit in
>>> the front row, again to allow more room for my dog. This wasn't the
>>> first time that this type of thing has happened to me. I tried to
>>> explain that the regular seats actually worked out better for us since
>>> I could slide the dog under the seat in front of me and there was room
>>> for my long legs, but it didn't make any difference. There were
>>> several back and forth discussions but in the interest of time,
>>> nothing changed. At one point she said that she had to seat me there
>>> according to their policies, to which I asked what policies. She never
>>> really said which policies these were other than airline policies for
>>> large animals. I should point out that my guide is 65 pounds. My
>>> roommate's guide this week was over 100 pounds, if she wants to know
>>> about large animals, but anyway. I asked her if she was familiar with
>>> the Air Carrier Access Act, and she said that she was not, and then
>>> paused and said that she was following her policies. She then told me
>>> that her husband was unemployed and she didn't want to lose her job. I
>>> tried several times to point out that there were plenty of seats if
>>> only 100 of them were taken up, and the attendant said that she
>>> couldn't switch me. She then said that people liked to spread out, I
>>> suppose offering this as an excuse. I said that I didn't need that
>>> much space, only a seat since the dog would be under the seat in front
>>> of me. This didn't make any difference. I even offerd to demonstrate
>>> to her, if she would show me to a free seat, how the dog fit under the
>>> seat in front, but this didn't change anything either. Finally, a
>>> second attendant came over to offer his assistance, In short order, he
>>> asked me where I'd like to sit, and found me a seat near the back of
>>> the plane. There happen to be an open seat next to me, but true to my
>>> word, I didn't spread out. When I was getting settled, the second
>>> attendant commented that my dog knew what to do and fit right under
>>> the seat in front of me, as I was guiding her into that position. I
>>> asked if he would explain this to the first attendant so that she
>>> might understand better how easy this was. He said that he would, but
>>> also that the first attendant I was talking with was new and had not
>>> been working for Southwest very long, and thus was not aware of all of
>>> the issues, which I assume he meant accommodating and that it was
>>> against the law to require that i be seated in the front row. Had the
>>> flight been longer than 45 minutes, like several hours, I very well
>>> might have taken that front seat, but based on past experience I knew
>>> that there would not be enough room, and that in fact my dog would
>>> take up less room if I could slide her under the seat in front of me,
>>> verses lying across the foot area of several seats.
>>>
>>> I don't want to cause the first fligh tattendant to lose her job,
>>> however, I feel I must at least call Southwest and make the incident
>>> known. AS an interesting side note, when exiting the plane, when I
>>> asked for the first flight attendant's last name, she refused to tell
>>> me, at least not until after I told her what my last name was. She
>>> tried to shoe me on out the door and on my way. She finally told me
>>> her last name, to which I thanked her and was on my way. I heard her
>>> rmark to someone else that I was going to have her written up, since
>>> she told me her last name. When I asked the secodn attendant that was
>>> nice and cordial to me what his last name was, he not only told me but
>>> also spelled it for me.
>>>
>>> As I say, this was the first time that something like this has
>>> happened, where I was given no choice but to sit in the bulk head
>>> area, and where I was not allowed to switch seats even though plenty
>>> of seats were open. I'm concerned and a little conflicted as to how to
>>> resolve this. Any ideas? I learned during this process that someone in
>>> operations had called ahead to tell the flight attendants that I was
>>> coming with a dog guide. However, as I say, if there is ever any
>>> discussion, I calmly point out that there's not enough room between my
>>> long legs and my dog's long legs, and this usually resolves the issue.
>>> I've never had this sort of thing happen to me. All input welcome.
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>> Wayne Merritt
>>>
>>> --
>>> Follow me on Twitter at:
>>> www.twitter.com/wcmerritt
>>> My websites:
>>> www.wayneism.com
>>> www.whitecaneday.org
>>>
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>>
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