Video: Woman With Pet Allergy Thrown Off Southwest Airlines Flight
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BALTIMORE, Md. (CBSMiami) -- In a cell phone video recorded from an airplane on the ground in Maryland, a woman is forcibly removed from a plane by law enforcement.
Her claims to have a fatal allergy is what sparked the incident on a Southwest Airlines flight scheduled to leave Baltimore en route to Los Angeles Tuesday night.
You can hear her yelling, insisting she'll walk off herself. When she doesn't, though, officers grab and pull her off.
"She's walking," a passenger says.
"I'm walking," she tells police.
"Then walk," an officer shouts.
A few fellow passengers plead with her to just leave peacefully. Others express their frustration.
"Jeez lady, get off the plane," a man retorts.
Bill Dumas recorded the video on his cellphone.
"I think she just lost control over the situation and she was in way over her head," he said.
Southwest said there were two dogs on the plane, an emotional support dog and a pet. The woman told flight staff that she had a life-threatening pet allergy.
When they asked her to provide a medical certificate, however, she couldn't. They then asked her several times to exit the plane. According to them, she wouldn't, which is why they called in law enforcement.
In a statement, the airline said: "Our policy states that a Customer (without a medical certificate) may be denied boarding if they report a life-threatening allergic reaction and cannot travel safely with an animal onboard."
Southwest also apologized to the woman for her experience and will be contacting her to address her concerns.
