A Delayed Flight Made Worse

[eltf177]

http://consumerist.com/2014/05/30/do...gency-landing/

Service dog decides to take a dump on a flight, causing it to be diverted and further delayed.

It was a service dog, and as the flight was already delayed in taking off I feel I can give the owner a pass - especially as she offered everyone on the flight a free Starbucks card as an apology.

[Dave1982]

OK, I wasn't there so I'm sure there was some additional circumstances involved here but......I'm really at a loss to understand why they needed to land because of this. I mean, didn't they have airsick bags? Aren't those supposed to be waterproof? Use the airsick bag as an impromptu poop bag, seal it up, clean the floor as best as possible and 99% of the smell should've been eliminated.

I mean really. What happens if a passenger gets really gassy on a flight (which from what I understand isn't at all uncommon because of the pressure difference) and inadvertantly stinks the place up? Are thye going to land because of that?

[eltf177]

According the the article:

"[Passenger said] that the smell was so bad that some people were dry-heaving and others actually vomited.

And it got worse when the dog let loose for a second round of poo. The passenger says that the cabin crew ran out of paper towels, at which point the pilot announced they would be making an unscheduled pit stop. "


It sounds like the situation was pretty bad and the flight crew made the decision to land - it really was a no-win situation...

[dendawg]

...at which point the pilot announced they would be making an unscheduled shit stop.

FTFY.

[Dave1982]

Yeah, I saw that part, and I'm still scratching my head.

Oh well. At least everyone is OK.

[BearLeeBadenaugh]

Sheesh, not a single person on the plane had ever dealt with a large dog with digestive problems? At the first sign of the dog squatting I would've grabbed a trash bag and held it for the dog to use as a porta potty. Sure, mighta missed the first pile, but would've caught the second and third piles that made em run out of paper towels. How the heck do they run out of towels, anyway?

With a two hour delay on the ground before they even got to leave for a 7 hour flight, wouldn't it have been a good idea for a flight attendant or maybe someone from the ground crew to take the service animal outside?

[eltf177]

With a two hour delay on the ground before they even got to leave for a 7 hour flight, wouldn't it have been a good idea for a flight attendant or maybe someone from the ground crew to take the service animal outside?

I was wondering the same thing, this might have been prevented if someone had thought about that.

[Jetfire]

It's airline and/or TSA/FAA paranoia (or stupidity or hardheadedness) Soon as the gate is closed, it is an independent entity ,and you can't get off again until it is somewhere else. That's part of the reason there's been a large push for passenger rights lately to give people an opportunity to get off the plane after a certain time/delay.

[cindybubbles]

Why don't they just invent an airplane washroom that caters to these pets? Have a toilet on the floor where the pet can pee or poo to his or her content. Then after the pet is done, it should auto-flush.

[wolfie]

Why don't they just invent an airplane washroom that caters to these pets?

One in an airport terminal (as posted in this thread) wouldn't help, since this was a case where the dog had been trapped on a plane with its doors closed for too long. As for why they don't put one in a plane, it costs money, adds weight, takes up space, and is likely to only be needed occasionally.

One simple (low-cost, low-space, low-weight) solution would be to carry a few oversized (as in suitable for an adult dog) puppy training pads. Give one to a passenger traveling with a service animal (pets are required to be in carriers, so the pads can be "on-request" for them). Animal does its business, pad gets folded up and tossed down one of the plane's toilets.

[Sliceanddice]

(pets are required to be in carriers, so the pads can be "on-request" for them).

i dont believe service animals have to be carriers

[wolfie]

i dont believe service animals have to be carriers

Highly unlikely that they would be (think of the size of dogs commonly used as seeing eye dogs - imagine trying to carry a carrier that can hold one, and it wouldn't be able to do its job while in the carrier). That's why I suggested handing out a pad to people with service animals, but making them "on-request" items for people with pets (an "accident" in a carrier is going to be less of a problem than one in the plane's aisle).

[ADeMartino]

Why don't they just invent an airplane washroom that caters to these pets? Have a toilet on the floor where the pet can pee or poo to his or her content. Then after the pet is done, it should auto-flush.

It's a great idea, but remember that there's only a certain amount of space on an aircraft. Installing such facilities would probably involve sacrificing 'revenue' space, and I'm betting that situations like these probably aren't frequent enough to justify it.

I heard Bob and Tom cackling about the incident on the radio the other day. Somewhere in the midst of the childish gigglefest about poo-poo, someone mentioned that there are fines involved for unscheduled landings.... something on the order of $10,000. There were also remarks about there being certain suspicions regarding the true nature of the incident.

[KhirasHY]

How the heck do they run out of towels, anyway?

Suddenly, everything becomes much clearer...