A viral video claims a passenger got kicked off a Southwest flight after petting her dog on board

24.10.2023 - 09:39 / insider.com

A video appearing to show that a woman got kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight after petting her dog has gone viral. 

In a TikTok posted by a user named Sara Price, a woman sporting an Oregon State Beavers sweatshirt was shown removing her bags from the plane's overhead compartment and heading for the exit. The video, posted on Sunday, has since garnered some 1.4 million views and more than 116,000 likes at the time of writing. 

Price's caption on the video said the flight was scheduled to depart from Colorado and was bound for California.

"The puppy was whining a little and the flight attendant boarding everyone walked up to her and said, if your dogs doesn't be quiet, you may not be able to fly," Price wrote in the caption, adding that the woman proceeded to pet the dog. 

"All the attendants got in a group at the front of the plane and decided we needed to return to the gate and that she should be removed from the flight," Price continued in the caption.

In the video, the dog owner could be seen refusing assistance from a flight attendant in removing the bag. "I'm not going to have you touch a thing of mine. You are rude. You are a mean person. And I will never fly Southwest again," she said.   

Fellow passengers could be heard consoling her in the background. "It's not like you even had the dog out; you were petting it," a passenger could be heard saying in the video. 

According to Southwest's website, passengers are required to keep their pets in "an appropriate carrier" when traveling with the airline. Pets are also only allowed on domestic flights, per the website. 

People online defended the woman for petting her dog, with several saying that they would have done the same. 

"I would want to pet my dog and check on them and make sure they are doing OK," one user wrote. 

Another user commented: "My dog gets meds to fly so he's usually fine but will sometimes cry during take off/landing. I always just stick my hand in his carrier." 

Price and Southwest did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider sent outside regular office hours.