Delta fires elite passengers from first class – dog takes her seat as airline cites ‘policy’: ‘There’s nothing we can do’

from Gary Leff on December 21, 2024

An elite Delta Air Lines passenger received a rare upgrade to first class – but was sent back to the bus 15 minutes later to give up his front seat to a dog instead. The airline told the customer that the dog was a service animal and that “there was nothing they could do about it.”

I was promoted to first place this morning and then demoted again 15 minutes later (to the worst place than before). I asked the receptionist what was going on and she said, “Something has changed.”

Okay, fine, I’m upset, but whatever, I then get in only to see this dog in my first class seat… And now I’m angry.

I immediately speak to Delta support and they say, “You may be relocated because of service animals,” and there is nothing they can do.

Just downgraded to a dog
byu/ben_bob indelta

I really don’t see Delta’s logic in pushing a passenger out of first class to accommodate a dog in the bulkhead. Of course, under the Air Carrier Access Act, airlines are generally required to provide reasonable accommodations, and one way to do that may be bulkhead seating. However, a last minute seat change would certainly not be necessary.

• Airlines must provide seating for passengers with disabilities when necessary (e.g., for reasons of legroom, mobility, or proximity to a service animal). Bulkhead seats are often used for this purpose.
• However, they are not required to displace other passengers from their assigned seats unless the airline has not implemented a policy to reserve certain seats for passengers with disabilities (e.g. Southwest) but they board such passengers in advance, who can then choose their own seating experience.
• Airlines may only give priority for bulkhead seats to passengers with disabilities if those seats are necessary as an accommodation for the passenger and only if that accommodation has been requested in advance. (You should make reasonable efforts to find accommodation at the airport, but do not have the same obligation and, in turn, would not have to displace another passenger to do so.)

Only if an accommodation was requested and approved in advance, but Delta failed to implement it or incorrectly upgraded the passenger to a seat that should have already been reserved for the dog, does the airline downgrade make sense.

And upgrading and then downgrading a passenger should be treated much more carefully by an airline that has the impression of being premium (as much as Delta executives loathe upgrading in the first place). Proactive compensation would have been appropriate here, as this could only have been due to an error on the part of the airline.

Delta actually seems to have gone to the dogs, and not just because only about 13% of first class passengers are there with upgrades these days. Late last summer, I wrote about a first-class passenger equipped with an emotional support dog and four carry-on bags for a plus-sized woman.

And here’s a dog recently eating at a table in the new Delta One lounge at JFK New York before flying to business class. It was hardly the only dog ​​making itself comfortable in a Delta lounge.

@oliverbelles My review of the new @Delta One Lounge @jfk✈️ But seriously… what do you call this dessert?! #fypage #maltipoo #dogsoftiktok #dogvoiceover @delta @Les Belles NYC ♬ Original sound – oliverbelles

I was actually on a Delta flight last month where the pilot turned around because of an unauthorized dog on board, unloaded the passenger – and then let her and the dog back on. This caused a delay of a few hours due to a shift change for refueling. The woman spent the flight petting the dog on her lap (note: it wasn’t actually a service animal).

More from View from the Wing