Lewis Reckline is severely allergic to cats — so when his eyes began to water and his throat became scratchy aboard an airplane operated by Delta Air Lines prior to departure from Atlanta to Oklahoma City, he and his wife Jackie called for the attention of a member of the flight crew.
Allergic Passenger Versus Animal: Did a Cat Really Get Priority Over a Human Passenger?
A woman had apparently boarded with her two cats. Mr. Reckline started experiencing the symptoms of his allergies within only minutes after boarding the airplane, which ultimately forced the Reckline family to change their travel plans: Mr. Reckline stayed overnight to travel separated from his family on a different flight; and that concerned his wife.
“At the moment, it wasn’t taken seriously with any regard,” said Jackie Reckline, according to this article written by Wendy Corona of WSB-TV Channel 2 Action News in Atlanta. “The flight crew was going above and beyond to accommodate the cats and not accomodate a human condition.”
The Reckline family were assigned seats in the first class cabin. Publicly unknown at this time is in which cabin the female passenger with the cats was assigned to be seated.
Mrs. Reckline also stated that “If we were together in the air for three hours, he would certainly go into anaphylactic shock.”
Delta Air Lines issued the following statement to the media:
The comfort and safety of every customer who flies Delta is our top priority and we work hard to ensure those with allergies are well taken care of. We have reached out directly to this customer to better understand his and his family’s experience and apologize for the inconvenience this situation may have caused.
Headlines from different media sources and weblogs eventually screamed out about how Delta Air Lines prioritizes cats over human beings aboard its airplanes — but the truth of the matter is that the entire situation could have easily been prevented.
What to Do
What you can do to prevent what happened to the Reckline family from happening to you pertains to many airlines and not solely Delta Air Lines.
“There is only one little area when you’re booking your flights for you to note if you have any special considerations. It’s that little bar that says special requests,” Jackie Reckline said in the aforementioned article, as the family acknowledged that it admittedly did not follow proper procedure when booking their flight reservations.
If you plan on being a passenger aboard an airplane and you have a severe allergy — or some other personal information about which you believe that employees of the airline should know — you can also call in advance of your flights to ensure that no one is put in danger.
Social media accounts — such as Twitter, for example — can also be used to successfully inform employees of the airline of any special requests which you may have.
Official Policies of Airlines in the United States
A commercial airline is permitted to require a passenger traveling with an emotional support animal provide written documentation that the animal is an emotional support animal — unlike for a service animal. A fee does not apply to service animals of passengers with disabilities — not even on airlines such as Spirit Airlines and Allegiant Air, which are known for their proliferation of ancillary fees.
Here is a list of airlines with links to their official policies pertaining to the transportation of animals:
- Air Canada
- Alaska Airlines
- Allegiant Air
- American Airlines
- Delta Air Lines
- Frontier Airlines
- Hawaiian Airlines
- JetBlue Airways
- Southwest Airlines
- Spirit Airlines
- Sun Country Airlines
- United Airlines
Summary
I assume that the owner of the cats legitimately paid to have them travel with her and that she did not attempt to pass them off as emotional support animals — but the comments section of this article titled Support Animals Versus Allergies: Here We Go Again has been rather active with supporters of both sides of this issue…
…and could there be a possible solution to people with allergies versus animals aboard airplanes, according to this article which I wrote earlier this year?
In the meantime, what should members of a flight crew do if they are faced with a passenger with animals versus a passenger who has severe allergies? Is there any scenario in which the animal wins out over the allergic human being? Should someone suffer if he or she did not take the proper precautions — especially if the situation could be life-threatening?
Photograph ©2007 by Brian Cohen.
