While an airline offering first class for furry friends took its first flight in May 2024, most travelers on regular airlines still do not expect to come into the business class section and see a dog taking up an entire armchair seat.
On the social media platform Reddit, one Delta Air Lines (DAL) passenger claimed to have been offered an upgrade into business class due to status earned with the airline only to have that retracted for a reason that was not properly explained by the airline.
The passenger then proceeded to pass by the seat during boarding “only to see this dog in my first class seat.”
A Delta Air Lines aircraft is seen in flight amid blue skies.
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Delta Air Lines passenger: ‘I then board only to see this dog in my first class seat’
“I got upgraded to first this morning, only to 15 minutes later get downgraded (to a worse seat than I previously had),” the passenger under the /ben_bob username wrote on Reddit. “I asked the desk agent what was going on and she said ‘something changed.’ Okay, fine, I am disgruntled but whatever. I then board only to see this dog in my first class seat and now I’m livid.”
While the passenger described the seat he was initially offered as first class, the picture he posted shows that it was likely a business class seat on a domestic flight. (The term “first” is officially used for the highest available service on certain long-haul flights. It is often thrown around interchangeably with “business” in everyday speech.)
The passenger then contacted Delta’s customer support through the airline’s app and claims to have been told that one “may be relocated for service animals and there is nothing they can do.”
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The post quickly went viral on the Delta subreddit and gathered nearly 4,000 upvotes within 24 hours of being posted. The photo posted on the site also shows a passenger sitting in one seat and a shaggy white dog laying down next to them on the floor while the seat remains empty.
“His super smug look,” wrote one commenter in response to the picture.
“The dog is probably a diamond medallion two million miler,” wrote another.
‘No way that dog spent as much with (Delta Air Lines) as I have’
Upgrades into any available business class seats are a perk that airlines offer to frequent travelers (as well as use to motivate travelers to work toward earning status with the airline).
“There is no way that dog has spent as much with this airline as I have,” the outraged passenger wrote further. “What an absolute joke. What’s the point of being loyal to this airline anymore, truly.”
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Delta has not provided comment on the specific situation that has caught the attention of the internet but the airline does have a policy which states that passengers with disabilities that require extra room need to be accommodated.
In some cases, that could apply to passengers traveling with a designated service animal. What “accommodation” looks like differs on the specific case and is often up to the interpretation of the air crew.
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