Passengers allegedly cheered, laughed and applauded at the removal of a boy — who is seven years old — from an airplane simply because he suffered a severe allergic reaction as the result of a dog which was present aboard the aircraft operated by Allegiant Air before flight 171 departed for Phoenix.
George Alvarado — who is 48 years old and has been diagnosed with terminal stage four throat cancer — was on his way home from a special trip to Bellingham which he had just spent with wife Christina Fabian and son Giovanni when this incident allegedly occurred on Monday, February 22, 2016, resulting in a delay of the flight before the family was asked by members of the flight crew to leave the aircraft. The trip was special because the family simply wanted to vacation in the state of Washington before Alvarado died.
Alvarado is sad that this cruel encounter forms part of the final memories Giovanni had with his father, according to this article written by Nico Santos of KPNX-TV Channel 12 News in Arizona. “People that do not have sadness should know … what sadness feels like when they have somebody in the family or somebody that’s sick, and they have to deal with that,” said Giovanni, who felt that the incident was all his fault.
“He began to get very itchy and he was scratching all over”, Fabian told reporter Natalie Swaby, who wrote this article for KING-TV Channel 5 News in Seattle. “He started to get hives, so we informed the flight attendant who informed us that there’s dogs on every flight and just smirked, which minimized his experience for me.”
Some passengers reportedly laughed at the boy when he was in distress.
“As a dad I was just hopeless right there”, Alvarado reportedly said. “I just looked at the people clapping. I was just shaking my head, I was like man let’s get out of here.”
The next available flight home for the family was two days later because Allegiant Air has a limited number of routes. The family was accommodated by the airline — which was in direct contact with the family — and has offered their apologies for the negative experience and the inconvenience, according to a spokesperson for Allegiant Air.
Members of the flight crew had consulted with a physician on call for medical emergencies, who urged Giovanni to leave the aircraft for his own well-being — a recommendation with which members of the family reportedly agreed.
Members of the family — not understanding the reaction from fellow passengers which led to this painful experience — is hoping that this experience can be converted into teaching people to show more respect and sympathy for fellow human beings.
Summary
We saw this coming — didn’t we?
People passing off their pets as “emotional support animals” in attempts to blatantly defraud airlines and use the law in the United States to their advantage — “As someone severely allergic to dogs and cats this whole thing makes my blood boil” was posted as a comment by reader P T — was simply not enough. Now it has come down to the health of fellow people versus outright selfishness.
The dog — which was on the manifest of the flight — was reported to be a service animal. If it was indeed a bonafide service dog which its owner requires for legitimate reasons, I can understand the boy being removed from the aircraft so as not to delay the flight…
…but if the dog was a pet being passed off as an “emotional support animal”, then this incident is a classic example of why changes to the federal law in the United States need to be enacted as soon as possible.
There are those who claim that people with allergies — such as with peanuts, for example — need to be more responsible with regard to affecting fellow passengers and not expect others to unnecessarily outright cater to them; but what if the allergies were yet to be known? The family in question had reportedly not been previously been aware of the allergy which Giovanni apparently has with dogs.
Regardless of which side of the debates you and I support, how can anyone laugh at the misery of a fellow passenger who is in despair — especially that of a little boy? Why can’t we be more tolerant of others — especially when we are confined to a long metal tube in an attempt to travel from one place to another? Why can’t we compromise and give fellow passengers the benefit of the doubt? Why can’t we maintain a better perspective in life and do what we can to ensure that as many people are as happy as possible?
Fredrick Kunkle of The Washington Post concluded this editorial — which was brought to my attention from reader JRG — with the following statement:
“Makes you wonder which ones were the animals.”
Amen.
Source: KING-TV Channel 5 News.
