Althouse: "A guy had a miniature horse, which didn’t fit comfortably in the back, so he was put in first class."

December 7, 2015

"A guy had a miniature horse, which didn’t fit comfortably in the back, so he was put in first class."

"The airline made the horse wear these little shoes so it didn’t scuff the plane, but it pooped all over and the other first-class travelers weren’t happy."

From "People are faking disabilities to fly with their pets."

46 comments:

Jason said...: What a stupid time to be alive.; 12/7/15, 10:36 AM
Rick said...: You have got to be shitting me.; 12/7/15, 10:37 AM
Brando said...: Ah, the ADA made so much sense when they passed it--"we only want to require 'reasonable accommodations.' Who could be against something 'reasonable'?"

And now we have horses pooping all over first class. One would think "reasonable" accommodations means "if you can't fly without your horse, you better rent a U-Haul instead" but then one would be wrong.

I always wondered how our society would fall.; 12/7/15, 10:41 AM
eric said...: That's first class airline trolling right there.; 12/7/15, 10:42 AM
Anonymous said...: More F'ing dog $hit; 12/7/15, 10:47 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: I never fly without my comfort eagle.; 12/7/15, 10:47 AM
MadisonMan said...: I'm allergic to dogs. That's my reply if my seatmate brings on a support dog. I ask the airline for a new seat. When I make reservations, under other, I check that I'm allergic to dogs and cats.

More people should do this. If you need a dog to fly, maybe you shouldn't fly.; 12/7/15, 10:49 AM
rhhardin said...: Flowered shower curtains make a horse feel more at home.; 12/7/15, 10:55 AM
lgv said...: I know someone who scams the system. At least it's a well behaved lab. But, what about the mental and emotional effect on all the other patients of having to put up with a disruptive, smelly, unsanitary pet? One person may be benefited by the companion animal, but many more suffer mental anguish because of it, including flight staff. The airlines can't risk the $150k fine. At some point we will reach absurdity and something will have to give. Until then, people will lie their ass off in order to get free passage for their pet in the main cabin.

Now, where did my emotional support camel go?; 12/7/15, 10:57 AM
tim maguire said...: Is this a joke? They let a pony on a passenger plane? I know people lie to get their pets into inappropriate places, but someone should go to jail for a very long time if they let a horse on an airliner. Jesus, it practically took an act of congress to get my nail clippers on. How did this horse make it through security?; 12/7/15, 11:06 AM
Jason said...: That's it. I'm getting one of these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YC_hEBFTKI; 12/7/15, 11:24 AM
Mary Beth said...: I think the excuse that people feel nickel and dimed by the airlines is just rationalization. A better excuse is that, when you have to fly with a pet, you're worried about its safety. Airline Animal Incident Report.

I've seen news stories about people taking animals on planes, but I've never seen it happen. I'm sorry they banned tarantulas, that would be one of the few things that might make talking to a stranger appealing to me.; 12/7/15, 11:29 AM
Tank said...: MadisonMan said...

I'm allergic to dogs. That's my reply if my seatmate brings on a support dog. I ask the airline for a new seat. When I make reservations, under other, I check that I'm allergic to dogs and cats.

Maybe you should add horses and pigs?; 12/7/15, 11:32 AM
Quaestor said...: "Emotional support" animals are a corruption of the service dog concept. This is an example of one of the many the problem with the regulations regime and do-good legislation in general. Selfish people find ways to corrupt the intent.; 12/7/15, 11:33 AM
Ipso Fatso said...: We're headed westward and we brought along the sheep!

Oh, their loads of fun when the day is done and it's time to go to sleep.

They're the next best thing to a weddin' ring when it's time to go to sleep!!!

A Steve Martin Mull song from many years ago.; 12/7/15, 11:43 AM
bleh said...: So not only did the guy not pay for a first class seat, his miniature horse shat all over the first class cabin, thereby ruining the experience for those passengers who actually paid for first class seats. Impressive.

Emotional support animals are a long-running scam. I'd like to have my wife classified as an animal so I can get her to fly free.; 12/7/15, 11:45 AM
jimbino said...: Restaurants now will need to list the calories in food. If airlines had to list the dog zoonoses they expose their passengers to, awaiting lawsuits, the top 40 or so would be:

* Anthrax
* Blastomycosis
* Bergeyella (Weeksella) zoohelcum
* Brucella canis
* Campylobacteriosis
* Capnocytophaga canimorsus
* Capnocytophaga cynodegmi
* CDC groups EF-4a and EF-4b
* CDC group NO-1
* Cheyletiellosis
* Coenurosis
* Cryptosporidiosis
* Cutaneous larva migrans
* Demodex folliculorum
* Dermatophytosis
* Dipylidium caninum
* Echinococcosis
* Francisella tularensis
* Gastrospirillum hominis
* Granulocytic ehrlichiosis
* Leptospirosis
* Lyme disease
* Neisseria canis
* Neisseria weaveri
* Pasteurella multocida
* Plague
* Rabies
* Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
* Salmonellosis
* Scabies
* Staphylococcus intermedius
* Strongyloides stercoralis
* Trichinosis
* Visceral larva migrans
* Yersinia enterocolitica; 12/7/15, 11:50 AM
Wince said...: It's been my intention that the next time I'm hauled into court or administrative proceeding as a defendant or respondent, I'm bringing my emotional support jackass.

No, not a lawyer. A literal jackass.; 12/7/15, 11:51 AM
john said...: Did Ramos' emotional support dog cause her motorcycle accident? He would be straddling the gas tank, obviously for an ES animal, and could have been injured itself and may now require his own ES animal.

Not too long ago you got a crutch when you sprained your ankle. Now you just get a boot, and they say you heal faster because of it.; 12/7/15, 11:54 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: MadisonMan, now you will have to add horses to the list.

It's an airplane, not the back of some guy's farm truck. The passengers shouldn't have to ride with people's animals.; 12/7/15, 12:23 PM
ganderson said...: PJ O'Rourke wrote an article 25 years ago about how stupid the ADA was, and how it was going to lead to stuff like this. The passage of the ADA was perhaps the first instance of the denial of reality that is such a constant feature of modern life.; 12/7/15, 12:24 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: The planes for Syrian Immigrants will allow Trojan Horses.

I am Laslo.; 12/7/15, 12:26 PM
Capt. Schmoe said...: We are doomed.; 12/7/15, 12:39 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: Commercial airlines are fast becoming the new bus lines. And not a first world bus, but a third world bus where you have to ride with the goats and chickens.; 12/7/15, 12:55 PM
Paddy O said...: "about how stupid the ADA was"

The ADA has had incredible benefits for the truly disabled. Anyone who is close to a truly disabled person knows the daily help this law has been to navigate an already difficult life.

The culture of corruption, however, leads to constant abuse and distortion of very useful law.

We live in an era where reasonableness is abused, and that makes any right or benefit liable to corruption. We live in an era where it's a badge of honor to take advantage of whatever benefit is intended for the downtrodden.; 12/7/15, 1:02 PM
Larry J said...: Quaestor said...
"Emotional support" animals are a corruption of the service dog concept. This is an example of one of the many the problem with the regulations regime and do-good legislation in general. Selfish people find ways to corrupt the intent.

Last year, I met a young woman who needed a service dog. She is a medical doctor who is both deaf and confined to a wheel chair. Her dog was dual certified for handicapped assistance and deafness. She was such an impressive woman and her service dog was equally amazing. There was a woman traveling with her who trains service dogs. I had a long conversation with her and learned a great deal.

Those "emotional support" dogs are not recognized or certified by any recognized organization. Their owners are abusing the system as a way to get their pets on planes. We discussed those dogs who work with people suffering PTSD. When we spoke, there was no recognized certification program for them but they were working with the VA to develop a proper program.; 12/7/15, 1:04 PM
MD Greene said...: I like the way this woman thinks.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/20/pets-allowed; 12/7/15, 1:21 PM
eddie willers said...: A Steve Martin Mull song from many years ago.

I tried a poodle,
A collie,
Kukla, Fran and Ollie!; 12/7/15, 1:27 PM
rhhardin said...: A lion makes you feel majestic.; 12/7/15, 1:43 PM
Fernandinande said...: (1) Carriers shall accept as evidence that an animal is a service animal identification cards, other written documentation, presence of harnesses or markings on harnesses, tags, or the credible verbal assurances of the qualified individual with a disability using the animal.
(2) Carriers shall permit a service animal to accompany a qualified individual with a disability in any seat in which the person sits, unless the animal obstructs an aisle or other area that must remain unobstructed in order to facilitate an emergency evacuation.; 12/7/15, 1:49 PM
Van Wallach said...: Meet my emotional support python.; 12/7/15, 1:56 PM
Van Wallach said...: Meet my emotional support python, Gobbles.; 12/7/15, 2:00 PM
California Snow said...: I once had to help a lady & her husband who were about to become homeless and she had an emotional support dog. She bounced around from house to house and eventually was living with her little chihuahua in a house with friends who had a larger dog. Big dog kills little dog and after some grieving and lack of money to buy another, she eventually learns she doesn't need an emotional support dog. Tough way to learn the lesson but she learned it. When we treat people like children they'll act like children as long as they can get away with it.; 12/7/15, 2:03 PM
Anonymous said...: This is a giant scam. Those who need service animals will be harmed by this "emotional support" BS. Try bringing your ponies into MY classroom, bozos!; 12/7/15, 2:18 PM
Denever said...: If I had a lot more time on my hands -- I'd probably have to be in an orthopedic ward with both legs in traction -- I'd challenge the "no reptiles, no tarantulas" ban on equal protection grounds and take it as far as I could. Anxious-flier reptile-lovers are people, too, y'know. I hope someone else will do something like that to push this idiocy to the breaking point. (You'd think the pooping pony in first class would have done that, but clearly more drastic measures are required.); 12/7/15, 2:27 PM
DanTheMan said...: I'm need lots of emotional support to get through the experience when flying. Can I bring my handgun? It will make me feel much calmer. If the other passengers object, then they can move to a new seat, right? Just as if I had brought along my emotional support gorilla.; 12/7/15, 2:39 PM
damikesc said...: As a saying goes, this is what happens when people wield rights as a sword instead of as a shield.

Ah, the ADA made so much sense when they passed it--"we only want to require 'reasonable accommodations.' Who could be against something 'reasonable'?"

And when people ask "How can anybody oppose (fill in legislation here)" I point to such idiocy as braille on drive-thru ATM machine keypads and the ridiculous amount of regulations for the most mundane things on Earth and that some folks make a living suing over idiotic shit under the ADA.

"The Death of Common Sense" was such a good book.; 12/7/15, 2:41 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Van Wallach said...

Meet my emotional support python, Gobbles.

Is that an emotional support python in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?; 12/7/15, 3:37 PM
damikesc said...: "This is my emotional screacher monkey and his emotional vuvuzela"; 12/7/15, 3:56 PM
ganderson said...: Paddy O- if your point is that there are people out there doing great things for the truly disabled, I agree. And further if you argue ( you didn't specifically but I'd guess you would) that we have an obligation to help our fellow citizens who are disabled(and, maybe even as important, their care-givers)I'd agree, too. But- I'd also argue that there were people out there doing great things for the disabled prior to 1990. In some ways we as a society suppose that we left the disabled to their own devises before ADA- we imagine a past that is distorted at best- and not just with reference to disability, either- it seems to be the way most federal law works. In other words until the feds came riding to the rescue there was no way to help ... well fill in the blank. I'd have to be persuaded that that's true. I'm pretty convinced, though that an all encompassing federal law is not the way to achieve those goals. As you correctly point out, there's too much scope to game the system.; 12/7/15, 4:42 PM
Deb said...: Who cleans up the mess when these animals poop or pee?; 12/7/15, 5:14 PM
Deb said...: Who cleans up the mess when these animals poop or pee?; 12/7/15, 5:14 PM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: Don't thank me... Thank the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Next up, Title IX fun and games.; 12/7/15, 5:41 PM
SukieTawdry said...: My 26-year old niece has an emotional support dog. She has an anxiety disorder. My sister says that since she got the dog, her incessant texting about whatever was making her particularly anxious at any given moment has slowed to a crawl. She apparently concentrates now on the dog instead of her anxieties. I'm glad it helps. Now instead of worrying about her, I worry that something will happen to the dog.

(She's afraid to fly, so that's not an issue.); 12/7/15, 8:12 PM
Gahrie said...: You'd think the pooping pony in first class would have done that, but clearly more drastic measures are required

How much more drastic can you get?; 12/7/15, 9:23 PM
Paddy O said...: "we imagine a past that is distorted at best- "

Well, I grew up with a mom who had polio when she was three and could never walk. Very active otherwise. The ADA helped in a lot of small ways that a non-handicapped person wouldn't think about and more noticeable ways, especially in terms of accessibility. Of course there were elements of help before ADA and there are a lot of places that do good without relying on it. But in its core goal it has been a great boon for her and others I know with handicaps.

If we were more attentive to stopping corruption and abusive use of laws we'd have a much better society, but just because laws are abused don't make them bad laws, because without them you'd have the same amount of idiots taking advantage however they can. Just like with labor laws, they're in place not because of a universal disregard for humanity, but because there's enough disregard that laws become necessary to promote the general welfare.; 12/8/15, 1:50 AM