A United Airlines Boeing 737MAX-9 was forced to divert to Dallas on Friday afternoon, although rather than because of one of the slew of recent technical mishaps the airline has suffered in recent weeks, on this occasion, it was because a dog made a rather stinky mess in the middle of the aisle right by the First Class galley.
The rather unfortunate mess happened only shortly after takeoff from Houston as part of a four-hour flight to Seattle, but rather than trying to live with the mess and accompanying smell for the whole flight, the pilots decided to divert to Dallas for an emergency cleaning job.
Messy dog poop in aisle, plane diverted
byu/gig_wizard inunitedairlines
Reddit user ‘gig_wizard’ shared photos of the mess from his vantage point in seat 1E, right in front of where the dog had the accident. The mess wasn’t, however, just in the aisle, but the forward First Class lavatory was also a no-go zone as a result of the dog’s accident.
Once on the ground in Dallas, cleaning crews apparently took two hours to clean up the mess with paper towels and absorbent granules, by which point, the Reddit user said that the food due to being served in First Class had gone bad and couldn’t be served.
“Cabin crew was very upset as they tried to represent passenger needs,” the Reddit user explained. “Accolades to the cabin crew who performed very well”.
United allows dogs and cats to fly as pets in the cabin, but the airline says owners must abide by one simple rule as soon as they are on the plane – the pet must remain in an approved carrier with the door closed for the duration of the flight.
Emotional support and therapy animals are classed as pets, but United has slightly different rules for dogs that are classed as ‘service animals’ that are trained to help their owner with a disability – whether it be physical, sensory, psychiatric, or cognitive.
Service dogs don’t have to be in an approved carrier and can simply sit in the floor space in front of their owner’s seat, although they aren’t allowed in exit rows or in the aisle.
United Airlines no longer allows dogs to be transported as cargo except for military personnel travelling between Honolulu and Guam.
In 2018, United Airlines made headlines when a flight attendant forced the owner of a French Bulldog puppy, which was in an approved carrier, to put the carrier with the dog inside in an overhead locker.
Catalina Robledo says she tried to explain to the flight attendant that her puppy was inside the container, but her protestation fell on deaf ears. After flying from Houston to New York LaGuardia airport, Catalina discovered that her puppy had died.
At the time, United said it took full responsibility for what is described as a ‘tragic accident’ but backed its flight attendants because they did not hear or fully understand what the passenger was telling them.
