WTF Stories of the Week

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by Frikitiki

While it probably could have been handled better at a customer service level, there are possible repercussions.

It could have been handled on a more humane level.

Rebecca Helm called their father, and he began driving back to the airport. She asked an AirTran employee to make arrangements with her father to look after the pet until he could get there, but the employee refused.
<snip>
"We don't have the personnel or the facilities to care for people's pets," White said.

Rebecca asked if throwing the pet away would allow for them to get back on the flight, White said. The gate agent did not tell the sisters what to do but said they could not get on the plane with the turtle, White said.

"At no time did any AirTran Airways crew member order or suggest that they put the turtle in the trash," he said.

Ugh, what automaton bull****. Just put the cage behind your desk until the father gets back to the airport. It's small, contained, quiet, and you don't have to do ANYTHING for it. To say you didn't tell her to throw it away is semantics crap - she had a whole flight waiting on her, wtf was she going to do??

I understand toeing the line but this is just a stupid case.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

It could have been handled on a more humane level.
Ugh, what automaton bull****. Just put the cage behind your desk until the father gets back to the airport. It's small, contained, quiet, and you don't have to do ANYTHING for it.

Says the sister of someone who's been fired because he broke a technical corporate rule that hurt no one, but still got him fired. If a stranger came up to you and said, "Hey, I'm in a pickle because I've broke some of your employers' rules [i.e., sneaking the turtle through security in the first place]. Do you mind risking your family's income to cover for my rule-breaking? Thanks!" how much sympathy would you feel for them?

To say you didn't tell her to throw it away is semantics crap - she had a whole flight waiting on her, wtf was she going to do??

Take the offer to wait 2 hours for their dad to arrive and take the later flight at no charge?

These girls were trying to do something they weren't allowed to do, got caught, were given an out and refused it. I don't see how the airline employees are to blame here.

[Alex]

I agree. I'd refuse to take responsibility for someone else's pet just on liability grounds. They were offered a way to resolve the situation and get on a later flight at no additional charge. That seems good enough to me.

If anything, the error was in standing there while they threw a living animal in the trash to get back on the plane. Disposing of the animal and reboarding the plane should not have been an option allowed to them and since splitting up would have required a minor being left unattended somewhere they all would have been subject to it.

All the while I would have been apologizing profusely that they'd been allowed to get that far with the animal without the issue being raised (I'm not sure if the security gate should have caught it or not) but I'd still have very much been in the "life sucks, we'll put you on the next plane" camp.


Besides, everybody know you flush little turtles.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

Considering it's your cash they are getting, that's downright neighborly of you.

I presume then that you clear all of your personal spending with your employer? Afterall, it's your employer's cash you're getting.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

Lightning strikes three Chicago buildings simultaneously.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

It could have been handled on a more humane level.

Ugh, what automaton bull****. Just put the cage behind your desk until the father gets back to the airport. It's small, contained, quiet, and you don't have to do ANYTHING for it. To say you didn't tell her to throw it away is semantics crap - she had a whole flight waiting on her, wtf was she going to do??

I understand toeing the line but this is just a stupid case.

GD said pretty much what I would have said, but I would add that this isn't just any every-day company we're talking about, this is an airline. Airlines are under a LOT of scrutiny about the smallest details. While on the outside, one could argue that a tiny little turtle isn't a security threat, ANYTHING out of the ordinary is suspicious.

I am on the side of the actions of the airline employees on this - they did not wrong in my eyes.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I disagree that anything about this constitutes a "security" threat. Liability issues yes, security no. But the bottom line is, the girls broke the rules and refused reasonable attempts to allow them to get back within the rules. Nothing else the airline could have done.

[innerSpaceman]

They could have bought the turtle a seat, if one was empty.

[Kevy Baby]

Not the item itself, but the act of leaving an item might be considered a threat (a silly notion to be sure, but a possibility). Yes, the liability is the bigger issue (which I covered in my earlier post; I was just trying to avoid duplication), but I wouldn't be surprised if the TSA might have something to say about it.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

They could have bought the turtle a seat, if one was empty.

Actually, not an option. From the article:

AirTran company policy bars animals other than cats, dogs and household birds in the cabin, said spokesman Christopher White. White cited a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that says the reptiles have been known to carry salmonella bacteria.

Unless, of course, you were just kidding...