American Airlines, The Following Week

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It was with some trepidation that Sue, Paris and I approached our flight back to Boston the following Friday.  Flight 202 was scheduled to leave Los Angeles at 12:35 p.m. for Boston.

Paris Models her Walking Jacket

Again, we boarded, this time with some trepidation. We did have our bulkhead seats, which was encouraging but the seat configuration was the very same - 3 across on both sides of the minuscule aisle which meant that my walker was taken away from me and there was no offer of a special wheelchair down the aisle to my seat. 

We settled into out bulkhead seats and Paris was on my lap. No one told me that she only had to be there for take-off and landing. We took off and as soon as we were airborne Paris fell asleep.  I soon followed.  I hadn't realized it until a flight agent shook my shoulder to wake me. She said my cat had taken advantage of my falling asleep to get off my lap and walk into First Class. She thought the cat looked a little scared and asked me to come with her. I told her the cat was just fine and wouldn't hurt anyone. As I was getting up, along came a male flight attendant, walking Paris as if she were a Chihuahua at the end of the leash. I use it for safety and have never walked her on it! He asked if this was my cat.  Yes.  He said she wanted to be in First Class and obviously belonged because her blue matched the stripe in his jacket. LOL  They finally told me that she only had to be on my lap for take-offs and landings, brought down her crate and she and I both slept peacefully. 

We had missed any possible meal service. Well, they did give us pretzels but I don't know why. Many of us are allergic to salt. Alovely flight attendant spent some time talking with us; Franny Marcel, even went to the back of the plane and handed Sue and me a Turkey Cuban Sandwich. I removed the ham, of course, but was never so happy to see real food!  She deserves a raise.

What a difference from the first flight crew. They need to be taken off their run and retrained. American also needs to reconfigure their planes before they call themselves friendly to working animals or those belonging to other categories, like comfort cat, emotional support animals etc. These animals have a job to do and deserve to be treated better.

The cost for sending additional luggage through has become obscene.  All in all, except for one flight attendant, American has nothing to brag about.  It's time to make the passengers a priority again.

Flying With a Service Animal?

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My blog posts are seldom personal but this one will be. I would not have been writing anything so personal if it hadn't been for one particular press release, pitching me on how American Airlines has a program for Service Dogs and service animals. Good topic. How does it become personal? I'll give you a bit of backstory...

In 2001 my Volvo was rear-ended by a truck and totaled. I was carried out on a board and taken to a less-than-stellar hospital's ER. End result: back pain for the rest of my life. I thought that was enough but several years ago I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, which is quite painful. I am not telling you this to complain. Plenty of people have worse things happen. I am telling you because it explains my recent flight.

I was perfectly fine when I brought Aimee home for my mother about 13 years ago. Sure, I had back pain but it was nothing like it is now with the addition of fibromyalgia. Aimee was a treasure. I got her for my mother but I often traveled with her. She helped me get through my mother's death and we bonded so closely it's impossible to describe. When cancer took her from me on April 13th, I was devastated. I usually wait a good length of time before getting another 4-legged but this time I couldn't. The house was too quiet. Chartreux breeder, Nancy Dionne, had a little girl who had amazingly finished her championship in only one show. She spayed her and as soon as she was sufficiently recovered, she sent Paris to me. She was 16 months old at the time.  Now 18 months old, we were about to embark on our first major trip together, accompanied by my chosen sister, Sue.

The woman who sent the press release had no way of knowing when she sent it that Sue, Paris and I were already booked on an American Airlines flight to Los Angeles, with Paris traveling as my comfort animal. I was determined to go and see friends, despite the inevitable pain that comes from sitting. I deliberately book an approximation of the American Flights out and back to Boston that I always took years ago when I did celebrity profiles for a wide range of publications.

Paris was in Aimee's SturdiBag that always fit perfectly under the seat, conforming to the space but not collapsing on her. I had spoken with American's Disability Travelers' department. At first they couldn't promise us bulkhead seats and wanted me to stand at the counter and wait to ask at the airport. I explained that I couldn't do that and could they please get a supervisor to approve the change. i waited on the phone while he did exactly that. He also gave me the number for TSA so I could explain that I was traveling disabled and with a comfort cat. I had all of the appropriate paperwork for Paris. I had also ordered wheel chairs for Sue and me at the airport. Sue also has Fibromyalgia among other issues.  We were so happy and excited to be going on this trip where I would see old and new friends.

On Friday, September 16, 2016, Sue and I were wheeled down the jetway to our flight, American Airlines #166 departing Boston at 9:15 a.m.  The flight attendants were always so wonderful, the plane was comfortable, it was super! Note the past tense. We were rolled down the jetway and left at the doorway to the plane.  Flight attendants were lined up saying hello. They saw that we were disabled. Sue walked on first. She was walking up and down looking for our row which surely had leg room. A flight attendant asked her what she was looking for. She said "8E"  I had told her that I was promised leg room and poor Sue couldn't find that. The flight attendant looked as if she had no time and not a bit of pleasantness about her. She told Sue, "Back that way and the number are on the arm." Sue has flown enough to certainly know that. Sue put Paris, in her carrier, on the seat and put her bag up above. She said she has never had so little help.

 The flight attendant when I boarded told me I wouldn't make it down the aisle with my walker. She also told me I was in Row 8. The row behind bulkhead. Sue had Paris in her carrier as well as her own bag. I had my bag. Holding onto setbacks to go down an aisle is not very stable. The aisles are so appallingly narrow because the planes have been reconfigured. Instead of 3 seats on one side of the aisle and 2 on the other, they now have pushed 3 seats in on each side. They have also shoved more rows in, giving far less leg room. There is absolutely no space to had.

By the time I made my way carefully down the aisle, I squeezed into my window seat and put Paris's SturdiBag on my lap. The same bag in which Aimee always traveled easily with plenty of room under the seat. There wasn't even room for me to put her down on the floor because the rows are so crammed together. Sue could barely get her purse under the seat.  Mine had to go up above. Which created another problem. 

The flight attended told me to put the cat under the seat. I said I couldn't. She kept arguing with me. I said I know it was supposed to go under seat as an airline regulation but I quite literally had no room put it down from my lap. She was quite testy. I'd never experienced a crew like this one. Completely unhelpful and not even pleasant. I don''t care how lousy your job is, you have to at least pretend to be pleasant to the public. She finally had me send Paris in her carrier down the row, across Sue and to some stranger in the aisle seat and then she put the carrier on the floor and started shoving it through back to me as if there weren't a living breathing sentient being inside.  I was appalled.

That was not the end of it. Crammed into our little seats for the cross-country flight, we couldn't even get up to use the loo.  I was afraid one or both of us would throw a blood clot since we couldn't move our legs. That was dangerous.  When the flight attendant came around to sell snack boxes, I was ready to buy one for each of us. My bag was still up above and the flight attendant wouldn't take it down so I could pay; she moved on.  That meant that Sue and I were crammed into that plane for about 6 hours with no food, no snack, no ability to get up.  The only thing they did was throw a tiny packet of biscuits at us and a drink. Disgusting.

Sue had to make 3 trips up from her seat out to the wheelchair when we finally landed in order to get everything to the front that had come on board with us.  Thankfully, wheelchairs were waiting.

This is how American Airlines treats disabled passengers flying with service animals? And they wanted me to publicize it as a good thing?  Dear readers I have never told you anything but the truth. Now you have my experience, along with my sister's, of flying from Boston to Los Angeles on American Airlines, disabled and with a service animal.  

We were both relieved when the flight was over.

Kari Winters' Cats Are Safe!

Kari Winters was an award winning pet writer and animal welfare activist who died mysteriously. At long last, her surviving cats are finally safe. They are in a loving foster home and will be placed with people Kari would want to have them.

When Kari died, her housekeeper took her dog and four cats. This person refused to give them to Kari’s family, despite being ordered to by the probate judge. One of the cats and the dog died, and Kari’s friends were upset and confused and not sure what to do. Finally, a reporter, Joline Gutierrez Krueger, for the Albuquerque Journal, took the story and investigated it. Three columns and a follow-up have moved officials to reopen the case. If you have any information that might shed light on how Kari Winters died, please contact Detective Medrano at (505) 768-2300.

Due to pressure from Kari’s friends across the country, in Canada, and in the United Kingdom, Kari’s four surviving cats were removed from the housekeeper’s home and placed in a safe home far away. Profound thanks go to American Airlines, with special thanks to Susan Baker, Manager, in New Mexico, who took charge of the four cats and flew them to safety, the Albuquerque Animal Services Department and their magnificent team of veterinarians and a wonderful foster in New Mexico who kept and loved Kari’s cats until they could be flown out of the State to another treasured Foster. From there, they will be placed in loving homes to peacefully live out the rest of their lives. We would also like to thank the Rio Rancho Animal Shelter who kept the cats overnight until they could be turned over to Albuquerque Animal Services. Individual names, as well as their current residence, have been deliberately left out for the safety of the cats and the people who have been, and are currently involved in this tremendous act of love, caring and generosity. We are extremely grateful.

Please cross post this, post it on your blog, and let your friends know about it. We have reason to rejoice: Kari’s cats are safe. We have reason to mourn: she, one dog, and one cat are dead. We must continue to press for a full investigation of what happened to her.

The Albuquerque Journal articles can be viewed here:

http://www.abqjournal.com/upfront/05231069334upfront03-05-10.htm Part 1

http://www.abqjournal.com/upfront/080711989upfront03-08-10.htm Part 2

http://www.abqjournal.com/upfront/122252523086upfront03-12-10.htm part 3

http://www.abqjournal.com/cgi-bin/print_it.pl?page=/upfront/162338276262upfront04-16-10.htm Part 4