A recent situation on a Delta Airlines flight has caused a bit of an online debate. A woman was traveling with her husband and her cat when a flight attendant threatened to kick the woman off of the plane. You may be wondering what she did. Was she being rude or disorderly? Did she perhaps board the wrong plane or cause a scene? No, none of the above took place. However, what did take place was that this woman brought her cat with her onboard and it would not stop making noise. Therefore, the flight attendant told the woman she would be asked to remove the plane if she couldn't get her cat to stop meowing.
Woman Told She Would Need To Get Off Plane If Cat Won't Stop Meowing
@janelleonajet I was seriously in shock ? what do you think about this travel mishap?
I can honestly say that this story shocked me a bit. While I can understand that the sound of a meowing cat is not the most pleasant sound, it is also not the worst. Flying nowadays is full of all sorts of unpleasant sounds. You have babies crying, people who listen to their phones really loud with no headphones, and there is always the one person who just talks insanely loud. Also don't even get me started on the lack of proper flight etiquette. The amount of naked feet I have seen on a flight is repulsive.
However, apparently this meowing cat is where this flight attendant drew the line. Janelle Rupkalvis shared a TikTok video of her experience on this most recent flight. People shared that, "she and her partner had been traveling on a Delta flight from from Seattle to Salt Lake City with her 4-year-old cat, Asparagus — a.k.a. "Gus"." The trio were also traveling first class. I felt that that was an important tidbit of information seeing as first class passengers pay a lot of money to be there, and typically "can do no wrong."
However, it was apparent that Gus could do wrong. Rupkalvis admitted that the cat was meowing quite a bit. She reflected on how noisy the plane had been with people boarding and baggage being loaded. "He's meowing because there's a lot of commotion," she stated in her video. However, she said that they had been on the plane for all of 30 seconds before this flight attendant approached her.
"If your cat doesn't stop meowing, we're going to have to ask you to get off the plane," the flight attendant said to her. Rupkalvis was appalled.
Online Debate Over How Situation Was Handled
In a panic, Rupkalvis tried to quiet Gus. Simultaneously, she reached out to a Delta agent to confirm the validity of the situation. The Delta agent specified that the rules stated, "the customer is responsible for keeping the pet passive and in the kennel for the duration of the flight, and two, the pet must be in a clean kennel that doesn't create discomfort for other customers." Then, she noted that there was a huge distinction between passive and silent.
Eventually, little Gus did quiet down and the flight attendant did not need to kick the woman off of the plane. However, Rupkalvis was not satisfied. Although she got her cat to stop meowing, she was still bothered by the situation. She admitted that she reached out to Delta asking if there was some sort of compensation she could receive for having received "incorrect information" and having been put through the situation.
In the end, she and her partner walked away with 150,000 miles each. It was that compensation that seemed to cause most of the debate online. While some people felt for Rupkalvis and thought the flight attendant was out of line, others thought that Rupkalvis was the one who overstepped. Here are some of the top comments.
In Favor Of Rupkalvis And Gus : Team We Won't Stop Meowing
"As a FA who has had to travel with my own kitties, I know it's so stressful! That was very unprofessional of her and I'm sorry you had that experience ??"
"So glad you got compensation and I think 30k is fair. Just wish there was someway to let the FA know she was wrong and you got something out of it."
"The flight attendant was out of line, they are only allowed to say something if there is disruption. Coming from a former flight attendant."
In Favor Of The Flight Attendant: Team Kick The Woman Off The Plane
"What I think is outrageous is the fact that you felt you were ENTITLED compensation for it. Like seriously?! Move on! Nothing happened. People are so soft anymore."
"Compensation? That's outrageous."
"Of course this is all about compensation too lmaooo it's always about that. I'm sure even this video is for even more compensation. Bc how do u quickly get over a situation bc of miles?"
