[NAGDU] filing a complaint
Janell
nellie at culodge.com
Mon Jul 17 15:59:48 UTC 2017
Hi Julie,
Sorry this happened to you!! I will be flying for the first time with Sully
next month. Keeping my fingers crossed I don't have any of these much too
frequent bad airport experiences!! Can you call that second lady back?
Don't give up on it, this is something that for sure needs to be reported.
It sure seems like all airlines need a crash course on guide dogs!!
Good luck, keep us posted!
Jan
ell
-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Julie Johnson via
NAGDU
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2017 9:42 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Julie Johnson <julielj402 at gmail.com>
Subject: [NAGDU] filing a complaint
I think I need some moral support before I give myself a stroke. Here's the
skinny:
On Saturday while transferring to my second flight in Atlanta I had an
extremely bad encounter with an airport maintenance employee. The
first flight was a bit late in arriving and I had only about 30 minutes
to make it to the connecting flight. I had used the escalator down to
get to where I needed to go quickly. At the bottom of the escalator I
was approached by a very belligerent person. He began by asking if I
had just taken the escalator with that dog. I answered that I had.
then he proceeded to yell and I do mean yell. He identified himself as
a maintenance employee and told me that he takes dogs paws out of the
escalator daily. He called me names including stupid and moron. He was
waving his arms and was generally rather threatening. I stated that it
was my dog and my decision. He interrupted me, continuing with the
names and the tirade about dogs on escalators. I stated again that it
was my dog and my decision. I requested that he mind his own business.
He continued with his truly epically unprofessional behavior.
Of course Monty has been trained to navigate escalators. We had no
issues on the actual escalator. I understand that there are differing
views on the use of escalators with dogs. I do not wish to debate
that. Everything has a risk. I could get hit by a car crossing the
street. I take the risk anyway, because I need to get on with my life.
I like to believe I am a reasonably intelligent adult with the ability
to weigh the pros and cons and make my own decisions.
This morning I called guest services to file a complaint. The first
woman on the phone argued with me about dogs on escalators. She said
that the man was unprofessional and should have calmly informed me of
the pros and cons instead of shouting and name calling. I informed her
that I already know the pros and cons and don't need a lecture from a
random airport employee who does not know about service dogs, service
dog training or what my particular dog has been trained to do. I am
quite capable of making my own decisions about myself and my guide
dog. She transferred me to another department.
Second lady was much better. No problems with her at all, except she
wants me to file an online complaint documenting the whole mess. I have
no problem with doing that, except she gave me the web address as
www at atl.com. That was supposed to be the web site, not an email, I
confirmed that. I tried a couple of web browsers and they won't bring
it up. Using www.atl.com does work and appears to be the correct
address. However when I go to the contact us page there is supposed to
be a form, but either I'm not on the right page, or it's an
accessibility issue.
Please help! My blood pressure it as its limit. Thanks so much to all
of you for being there in times of stress. I wouldn't wish this
experience on anyone, but it's nice to know that all of you understand
because you've been there and done that.
Thanks!
Julie
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