Dog poops mid-flight, causing stir among United Airlines passengers

 CHICAGO:

Some passengers on a United Airlines flight had a memorable experience after a little dog made a big stink.

During a flight from Denver to Portland on Monday night, a woman sitting in an aisle seat toward the back of the plane had quite a mess on her hands after her chihuahua relieved himself all over her lap, about an hour before the flight landed.

“All of a sudden … a poop smell hits you, and a lady behind me who’s pregnant said that she has heightened senses, and so she hit the call button,” a passenger who only identified himself as Nick told Nexstar’s WGN. “I turned on my phone light, and that’s when I realized the dog was out. And we were debating was it her or was it the dog.”

“Then a flight attendant came over, and that’s when we kind of realized what was going on,” he continued.

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Passengers said it took about 10 minutes for flight attendants to come and clean up the mess.

“The lady was reluctant to move or to deal with it, and the flight attendants were slow to come,” Burton Bix, another passenger on the flight, said. “They cleaned it eventually. They were wearing hazmat-type clothes, and they cleaned the seat around it.”

According to United Airlines’ rules , all dogs and cats on board must remain in a crate or carrier beneath the seat at all times.

It’s a rule that passengers on the plane said the dog owner broke.

“She had said, ‘I’m going to take him out anyway,’ earlier, as the flight was taking off, and we were talking. She said, ‘I’m going to take him out,'” Bix said.

Because it was a full flight, those sitting in the same row weren’t able to move to another seat.

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“She mentioned earlier, when I was first seated, that she hadn’t taken it to the bathroom during the airport. I think they have relief centers, so it probably was cooped up in the cage the whole time. So yeah, maybe if you’re going to bring an animal, let it go to the bathroom before you get on the flight,” Nick said.

Passengers said after the flight, United offered them $50 to $75 in electronic credits towards a future flight.

While the unfortunate incident caused a bit of a stir, some passengers said they didn’t hold any hard feelings over it.

“Obviously, you don’t want to be tied to a poop incident, right? But we were patient with her. I didn’t lose my cool. I was friendly because it’s an accident,” Nick said. “So, I think at the end of the day accidents happen. It’s an unfortunate event. Maybe United can learn something from this, and we take something away from it.”

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In a statement released by United, the airline said crews cleaned the area and offered sanitizing wipes to passengers.

“Our inflight crew thoughtfully cleaned the area shortly after customers brought it to our attention. We provided sanitizing wipes and offered travel vouchers to those in the surrounding area,” a United Airlines Spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Passengers said flight attendants also handed them bags of coffee to try and cut the odor.

Story Source: NEWSBREAK WGN News or CLICK HERE