Unruly airline passengers: Nuts over nuts & no flying pigs, please

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Written by Linda Hohnholz

In our earlier article, Unruly Airline Passengers: No Pet Rats, Please (ETN 4/10/2014) we discussed how and under what circumstances airline employees and airport security personnel should react to wh

In our earlier article, Unruly Airline Passengers: No Pet Rats, Please (ETN 4/10/2014) we discussed how and under what circumstances airline employees and airport security personnel should react to what they perceive as unruly airline passengers. As we pointed out pilots of commercial aircraft have the right and responsibility to deny boarding to and/or remove disruptive passengers [see Rubin v. United Air Lines, Inc. (โ€œWe hold a passenger whom the airline believes is, or might become, inimical to the safety of the aircraft or its passengers may be ejected from a flight without subjecting the airline to tort liability if at the time airlines personnel had a reasonable basis for believing the passenger presented a safety riskโ€)]. This is true even if the information upon which the pilots rely is less than accurate [see Ruta v. Delta Airlines, Inc. (โ€œโ€˜An airlineโ€™s discretion to reject a passenger must be accepted if exercised in good faith and for a rational reason…even if the flight attendant makes exaggerated or false representations to the captain, the captain is under no obligation to leave the cockpit to investigate the truthfulness of…representationsโ€)].

Nuts Over Nuts

In Sang-Hun, Korean Air Executive Resigns Post After Halting Flight Over Snack Service, www.nytimes.com (12/10/2014) it was reported that โ€œCriticism has come nonstop for Korean Air Lines since it was discovered that one of its executives had ordered a flight from New York to Incheon, South Korea, to return to the gate to kick the senior flight attendant off the plane in a tiff over how the executive was served the nuts…as it turned out: Cho Hyun-ah was not only in charge of in-flight service for Korean Air, but is also a daughter of the chairman of the family-run conglomerate that operates the airlines. Ms. Cho who resigned Tuesday after an outburst of another sort of rage-on social media and traditional media-became irate on Friday after a flight attendant served nuts without first asking her, and in an unopened package instead of on a plate…Bloggers ridiculed Ms. Cho…for โ€˜going nuts over nutsโ€™โ€.

More Pets On The Plane

โ€œOver two million pets and other live animals are transported by air every year in the United States. Federal and state governments impose restrictions on transporting live animals…Dogs and cats must be at least eight weeks old and must have been weaned for at least five daysโ€ [http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/publications/animals.htm]. Typically, most pet animals must be placed in appropriate containers and shipped as cargo [Part 245-Domestic Baggage Liability Rule sets monetary liability of domestic air carriers for injured passenger pets][see Ing v. American Airlines (Willie, a young English Bulldog expired shortly after being transported to San Francisco)]. But what about passengers who want to have their pets with them on the plane. There are, of course, provisions for the carriage of service animals to assist disabled passengers [ 14 CFR Part 382, Guidance Concerning Service Animals in Air Transportation, 68 F.R. 24874-24878 (โ€œIn a nutshell, the main requirements of Part 382 regarding service animals are (1) Carriers shall permit dogs and other service animals used by persons with disabilities to accompany the persons on a flightโ€)]. And some airlines allow small pets to be carried onto the aircraft as long as they are contained in a portable carrier under the seat.

Final Rule On Transporting Animals

As we noted in U.S. DOT Final Rule On The Transportation Of Animals (ETN 8/7/2014) the U.S. DOT Final Rule on Reports by Air Carriers on Incidents Involving Animals During Air Transport effective January 1, 2015http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2014-15505_PI.pdf (FN 1) โ€œThere are three categories for animals transported in scheduled passenger air transportation: โ€˜unassigned in the cabinโ€™, โ€˜accompanied baggageโ€™ and โ€˜live cargo shipmentsโ€™. Animals categorized are โ€˜unassigned in the cabinโ€™ are usually small pets that remain with the owner in the cabin for the duration of the flight. Air carriers may allow a limited number of passengers per flight to transport their animals as โ€˜unassigned in the cabinโ€™. Pursuant to 14 CFR Part 382, service animals accompanying individuals with a disability are not included in this category. Animals categorized as โ€˜accompanied baggageโ€™ are pets traveling with passengers on the flight that are checked as baggage, remain in the custody of the air carrier for the duration of the flight, and are transported in the cargo compartment. Animals categorized as โ€˜live cargo shipmentsโ€™ are animals that are not associated with passengers on the flight and are transported in the cargo compartment. While โ€˜accompanied baggageโ€™ and โ€˜live cargo shipmentsโ€™ may or may not be in different areas of the cargo hold on an aircraft, the primary differences between these two categories are shipping procedures and price pointsโ€.

Disruptive โ€œSupportโ€ Animals

Some pets brought on board a commercial aircraft may present a problem and be disruptive to other passengers. Such animals as a pet rat [see Giambattista v. American Airlines, Inc., 2014 WL 1116894 (E.D.N.Y. 2014) (employment discrimination action; complaint dismissed; โ€œAccording to the plaintiff…two of her co-workers…Both flight attendants-reported to the…(โ€˜ICEโ€™) and to the Defendant (air carrier) that they believed that the Plaintiff had illegally brought her pet rat on board an international flightโ€)] or a pet cockatoo [Richman v. USAir, Inc. (passenger not permitted to keep pet cockatoo outside kennel during flight)] may be disruptive, indeed.

No Flying Pigs, Please

Included in this special category of potentially disruptive โ€œsupport animalsโ€ would be a โ€œbig brown pigโ€ brought onto an aircraft by a passenger. As noted in Grinberg, CNN, Airline: โ€˜Emotional supportโ€™ pig kicked off flight for being disruptive (http://cpf.cleanprint.net (12/1/2014) โ€œWhen US Airways passenger Robert Phelps first saw the woman coming down the aisle of the plane, he thought she had a โ€˜really big dogโ€™ or a stuffed animal thrown over her shoulder…As she got closer, there was no denying that the woman was carrying a big brown pig, perhaps between 70 and 80 pounds…โ€™Other than a Fellini movie, where would you see a person with a pig? The passenger was allowed to bring the pig on board as an โ€˜emotional support animalโ€™ under (DOT) guideline, a US Airways spokeswoman said. Apparently, it was not (meant) to be. Before the plane took off, the passenger and her pig were kicked (off) for being โ€˜disruptiveโ€™. Spokeswoman Laura Masvidal said. How disruptive? Fellow passengers told the Hartford Courant that the big brown pig stank up the cabin of the tiny D.C.-bound aircraft and defecated in the aisle…When she tied him to the armrest ans tried to clean up after him, he began to howlโ€.

Overreacting To The โ€œUnruly Passengerโ€

Who is โ€œunrulyโ€ and how is such a passenger to be dealt with? Flight attendants and airport police are, of course, trained to deal with unruly passengers as well as other contingencies. Occasionally, however, flight attendants [see Kripalami v. AMR Corporation (flight attendant allegedly โ€œharassed, humiliated and threatened (passenger) including promise of arrest and imprisonment (because she took โ€œhis photograph with her cell phoneโ€); Rombom v. United Air Lines (rude and unprofessional conduct by stewards who allegedly and spitefully had passenger falsely arrested); Carey v. United Airlines (passenger humiliated by flight attendant in front of first class passengers)] and airport or local police called to assist may overreact and mistreat passengers [see George v. Rehiel (โ€œGeorge claims that after he arrived at (airport) he was detained, interrogated, handcuffed and then jailed…because he was carrying a deck of Arabic-English flashcards and a book critical of American interventionismโ€); Best v. BWIA West Indies Airways Limited (โ€œOffice Clark grabbed Mrs. Best and forcibly removed her from her seat. Mrs. Best was then pulled off the aircraft, down the portable staircase and onto the tarmac, where she lay cryingโ€); Cush v. BWIA International Airways Ltd. (When passenger refused to leave the aircraft immigration officials โ€œrepeatedly punched him in the face and groin, placed him in a choke hold, handcuffed him and then pushed him down the stairs leading to the tarmacโ€). And how broadly should โ€œunrulyโ€ be defined? For example, are passengers with โ€œnoxiousโ€ body odor subject to removal? [see Mohideen v. American Airlines, Inc. (โ€œThe Mohideens allege that the true reason for their removal from the plane was, instead, illegal discrimination on the basis of race, religion and national originโ€)].

Conclusion

It is beyond dispute that airline passengers must be protected from unruly and disruptive passengers. But identifying precisely what type of behavior is โ€œunrulyโ€ can be a difficult and sensitive proposition often raising issues of discrimination based on race, religion, ethnicity, disabilities and the transportation of pet animals.

The author, Justice Dickerson, been writing about Travel Law for 38 years including his annually-updated law books, Travel Law, Law Journal Press (2014), and Litigating International Torts in U.S. Courts, Thomson Reuters WestLaw (2014), and over 300 legal articles many of which are available at www.nycourts.gov/courts/9jd/taxcertatd.shtml .

This article may not be reproduced without the permission of Thomas A. Dickerson.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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