Airline passengers refuse to fly after a blind man and his guide dog are removed from the plane

[Playinghardball]

Airline passengers rallied around a blind man Wednesday night after he and his guide dog were removed from the plane.

Albert Rizzi and his seeing eye dog tried to board a US Airways express flight from Philadelphia International Airport to Long Island, but passengers said flight attendants would not allow him to bring the animal onto the plane unless it could travel under a seat.

The flight was delayed for about an hour and a half on the tarmac, and the dog became restless, and other passengers said a flight attendant ordered Rizzi and his guide dog off the plane.

“The lady comes back and gets very insistent, and I said, ‘Look, I don’t understand what you want me to do,’” Rizzi said. “’He’s as best as he can, he’s where he needs to be,’ and I hear nobody else moving, and as I’m walking to the front, I’m like, wait a second, why am I the only one getting off?”

The rest of the passengers banded together and said they refused to fly unless the man and his dog were permitted back onto the plane.

“Blind man and his dog just got kicked off @USAirways after we’ve been on the tarmac an hour, bc dog wiggled a bit. Whole plane outraged,” one passenger tweeted from the flight.

Another passenger said the flight attendant gave Rizzi about one minute to calm his dog before removing him.

He tried to do whatever he could, and she went back to the front of the plane,” the passenger said. “We were taxiing like we were going to take off, and at that point in time, we’re about to take off, and all the sudden the captain gets on the PA and says we have to head back to the terminal … We were all kind of raised our voices and said this is a real problem. So the captain winds up coming out of the cockpit, and he basically asked us all to leave the aircraft.”

More at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/14/airline-passengers-refuse-to-fly-after-a-blind-man-and-his-guide-dog-are-removed-from-the-plane/

[uppityperson]

1. A couple more links, stories with more/different info

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/long_island&id=9325237

Passengers say the attendant was unwilling to compromise and that there were open seats and other options for Rizzi and his dog. Officials at U.S. Airways say Rizzi got verbally abusive.

The wording on this one is different.
http://www.kjonline.com/news/Guide_dog_dispute_cancels_flight_from_Philly_to_NY.html

A dispute involving a blind man, his guide dog and an airline crew led to the cancellation of a flight from Philadelphia to New York.

(clip)

Albert Rizzi says his service dog was curled beneath his feet as the plane was leaving Philadelphia. He says a flight attendant told him the animal had to fit under the seat in front of him.

Airline spokeswoman Liz Landau says Rizzi was not controlling the agitated dog. She says Rizzi became verbally abusive, and the crew decided to remove him.

Landau says other passengers then became upset. The flight was canceled....

[Hissyspit]

2. Oh, no, he got verbally abusive!

BS excuse.

[uppityperson]

3. other passengers then became upset. The flight was canceled

On the other hand, it is good to see media not doing the omg omg omg omg writing dance.

[Gormy Cuss]

7. My guess : verbally abusive= talking back to the flight attendant.

Ever since 9/11, that's tantamount to asking to be booted off the flight.

[warrant46]

31. Exactly, some of these flight attendants have all the love for the Passengers as

These women did to the prisoners at Bergen Belsen

[Curmudgeoness]

6. I call bullshit on the "Rizzi became verbally abusive"

comment. From what I know of people, the other passengers would not have come to this man's defense and risk not making their own flight if Rizzi was being an asshole. I guarantee it.

[dembotoz]

17. yep

[silvershadow]

25. Yep. Any act of raising one's voice even just slightly above the ambient noise in order to be heard

clearly becomes "verbally abusive", even if you are defending your own rights.

[Curmudgeoness]

29. We know that he probably didn't even raise his voice much.

No one would defend him and stand up for him if he was abusive in any way. Don't you wish that there was video so we could see how "abusive" he was?

[silvershadow]

32. As one who may someday soon require a service animal, I shudder to think what I will

be subjected to. Yes, I do wish there was video.

[Curmudgeoness]

33. I am sorry you are in a position like that.

Just make sure you know all of your rights....and start on your zen because I have a feeling that people might be idiots and you will need to stay calm.

Best of luck.

[silvershadow]

34. Thank you! Seriously, meditation is part of my daily routine (as is avoidance of people).

I'm only half lol ing.

[liberal_at_heart]

43. Have you networked with other people in your particular situation? My husband is legally blind. He

went through a six month independence training program at a state occupational school for the blind. He made wonderful friends there that know exactly what he is going through. He is still friends with many of them to this day.

[tblue37]

40. Some passengers say he was NOT impolite at all. It's standard CYA airline BS. nt

[Stinky The Clown]

38. "Verbally abusive"? Are you fucking kidding me? That's outrageous.

That man and his service dog have every fucking right to fly.

Deal with it, Loser Airways.

[Swede Atlanta]

4. And airlines wonder why passengers hate them.......

I have a lot of sympathy for airline employees. I worked for an airline for almost 10 years back in the day when you made a decent income and before flying was the same as riding a bus.

The employees have been squeezed on pay, work rules and benefits. I get that.

So airlines have created a largely "hostile" work environment for employees through their cut, cut, cut tactics.

At the same time airline employees don't do themselves any favors when they engage in what appears to be nonsensical behavior. Crews have become even more "self-aggrandizing" since 9-11 in that they are in charge. There are too many stories to tell where a crew has responded to a situation that had nothing to do with security or safety, such as here, but used their power to get their way.

I have flown on US Express from Philadelphia to Long Island many times. I guess now I will fly to La Guardia and rent a car.

Bye, bye US Airways for me......

[magical thyme]

5. wow. large dog jammed under low seat for an hour and a half

dares to get restless, and those aholes gave his owner a minute to fix it?

let them jam themselves under a seat for an hour and a half and see how restless they get, not to mention how stiff and sore they are.

Glad I'm too poor to fly anywhere any more. Good on the passengers for standing up for the man and his seeing-eye dog! I believe their tweets more than I believe any statements coming out of corporate about how the man supposedly got abusive.

[Gothmog]

8. This man's fellow passengers are good people

The airline screwed up here big time. I am glad that there were decent human beings on this flight

[Orrex]

9. I don't know... That dog looks kind of Al Qaida to me.

k/r

[Politicalboi]

11. All he needs is a

Bandanna.

[xchrom]

10. du rec.

[KamaAina]

12. WTF?

I used to fly with my old boss, who has a service dog similar to Rizzi's. Fortunately, we flew Continental, not US Airways, so Stanley and the boss got a bulkhead seat (the first row behind first class). Problem solved.

[Gormy Cuss]

14. I'm surprised there isn't an ADA angle on this story.

The dog isn't a pet. There were unsold seats on the plane.

[KamaAina]

16. ADA does not apply to airlines

but there's the Air Carriers Access Act for them.

[Gormy Cuss]

18. Thanks. What's it say about service animals?

Is it similar in terms of accommodation?

[KamaAina]

21. Pretty much.

They had absolutely no right to do what they did.

[tblue37]

41. I sure hope he is able to sue (and win). nt

[tavalon]

35. I know that's correct

Before we learned the right way to sedate our autistic son, we were thrown off many a flight.

[FailureToCommunicate]

28. The ADA was signed in 1990. The Air Carriers Act of 1986...

Last edited Thu Nov 14, 2013, 10:57 PM - Edit history (1)

pertains to this incident.
Access must be provided:

http://www.southwestada.org/html/topical/aircarrier/aircarrier_serviceanimals.html

Perhaps there was more to the story that caused the crew to refuse service?

[Jesus Malverde]

13. shameful...nt

[Brother Buzz]

15. In my perfect world....

The pilot would have invited the pair up into the cockpit and let the dog stick his head out the window for a moment then pinned a pair of wings on his collar. All better.

[davidpdx]

19. US Airways is basically American Airlines because of the merger

Treating a disabled person like crap is not a way to get customers.

[KamaAina]

37. Merger was just approved

it'll take a couple of years to implement it, just like with United/Continental, Delta/Northworst, etc.

Hopefully this shitball won't make the cut.

[davidpdx]

42. I really dislike United

Their service has gone to shit. The last time I flew from Korea back to the US was a terrible flight.

My sincere advice to anyone coming to Asia choose either Singapore Air or Asiana Airlines.

[liberal_at_heart]

20. That is very touching. I'll have to share that story with my husband. He has flown with a guide dog

before, and the attendants were nothing but gracious. That attendant and pilot were just jerks and I'm glad the people on the plane came to the aid of the man and his guide dog.

[madfloridian]

22. Tweeted this.

That is terrible. Heartless.

[Moonwalk]

23. What I don't understand is why attendant/pilot thought this was a good idea...

...I mean, with the social networking, did they think this wouldn't get out? Go viral? Come across as bad not only for them but for the entire airline? It'd be bad enough if they'd kicked off the blind guy and his dog, but if ALL the other passengers came to this man's defense and got kicked off....

Did neither attendant/pilot think about the possible repercussions of this? Or the problem of proving their side given that all the passengers are on the blind guy's side and ended up off the plane because of it?

Talk about stupid.

[tavalon]

36. Social Shaming works really well nowadays

When used for good, like this, I'm all for it. Shame on them.

[QuestForSense]

24. I wonder if we'll see this on the 6:00 o'clock news.

You'd think CBS would be dying for a human interest story like this. USAirways should be publicly excoriated for acting so discourteously.

[MrScorpio]

26. Sometimes a story comes along...

That helps to restore my faith in humanity. This is one of them.

[The Wizard]

27. Sell your stock if you have it

There's a long recovery period after a disgusting public relations fiasco like this. Buy the stock back in about 90 days.

[lindysalsagal]

30. It was a short flight anyway: What's the big deal?

How long does it take to fly between NYC and phili? 35 minutes? How much trouble could a dog be, compared to a toddler?

I'll take the dog any day.

[Moonwalk]

44. A dog trained to guide a blind man is going to be VERY well trained indeed--

Absolutely the dog would be less trouble than even the most sweet tempered toddler.

[liberal_at_heart]

45. there have been times when my husband and I have been at a restaurant with his guide dog under

the table and when we got up to leave the other people in the restaurant were like "I didn't even know he was there." Guide dogs are very well trained and very well behaved.

[dreamnightwind]

39. The passengers were outraged

and the flight was canceled as a result. That's a HUGE amount of inconvenience for all of those passengers. So that's the verdict of the court of public opinion, says all I need to know about the incident. US Airways fail.