Oakland woman and service dog kicked off Southwest Airlines flight

San Jose Mercury ^ | 11/29/2013 | Kristin J. Bender

[Joe 6-pack]

WOOOF!

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[Jonty30]

Really?

In your opinion, soldiers are the only people who can have a severe case of PTSD? People who suffered severe physical and sexual abuse can’t have it?

[rawhide]

[Farmer Dean]

Yes,it’s a pit bull.In this case a very well tested and trained one.Not my choice of breed to do anything with,but it is a certified service dog.

[basil]

Pit bulls make excellent companion dogs. They are very intelligent and intuitive.

Michael Vick be damned.

[windcliff]

Sitting next to that would take my mind off the flight.

[Ditter]

I think the student was just pranking the teacher. I'll bet he had trouble keeping a straight face.

I had a pet chicken that would sit on my lap in my kitchen and make those little clucking chicken noises. I had a friend who was scared to death of chickens and I would call her up and when she heard the clucking sounds she would hang up on me. ha ha!

[icwhatudo]

So a crazy woman with seizures, wearing a marijuana t-shirt, brings a pitbull on a plane with a handwritten note from a shrink.

Why would a stewardess even doubt her?

[Jonty30]

That’s a badly written sentence, but the dog would signal her when a seizure is about to happen, hopefully giving her time to phone for medical help before it actually happens.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

I’ve suffered panic attacks in the past. Really gruesome ones that sent me to ER. I overcame them, fortunately. I can totally understand someone who is stricken with severe bouts of them given their circumstances and history. It CAN be totally debilitating and confining.

[ladyjane]

If the abuse was severe enough that her doctor has diagnosed PTSD then yes she is a victim.

Some folks have learned how they can get disability placards and service dogs from physicians. It's fairly easy. Threaten to sue for discrimination whatever: minority, disabled, obese, childhood abuse, on and on.

It's very unfair to those who have really been abused and really have a disability.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Hahaha! The conversations in the break room were hilarious! She was LIVID! The other profs were thinking “glad it’s not us”. LOL!

[Jonty30]

I suffered one panic attack in my life, so I understand how bad they can be. They are honestly very paralyzing.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

You make a good point. It’s con artists like these that give the programs a bad name to those who really need them.

[driftdiver]

Other people have rights too, not just people like this woman.

[McGavin999]

No, actually I don’t.

[BluH2o]

I've flown on Southwest several times over the years ... I'm also involved with the so called “bully’ breeds for more years than most of you reading this response. This dog falls into that category. I'm on Southwests side in this instance ... they are the most customer friendly, layed back airline I’ve flown on ... and I'm a frequent domestic and international airline passenger.

[Jonty30]

Then, in your opinion, it’s a non-existent condition which means soldiers can’t have it either.

[ladyjane]

Every time I see a woman in high heels trotting over to her car parked in a handicap zone it gets me upset. Also, the construction workers in their pickup trucks sporting handicap placards. Have they no shame. Apparently not.

[Ezekiel]

So a crazy woman with seizures, wearing a marijuana t-shirt, brings a pitbull on a plane with a handwritten note from a shrink.

Her Berkeley psychiatrist no less.

What really surprised me was that there was no mention of Gloria Allred.