Bringing vivid memories of United Airlines and the Dr. David Dao dragging story, a similar incident has now occurred on Southwest Airlines Flight 1525, due to leave Baltimore for Los Angeles on Tuesday. A woman claimed she had a life-threatening allergy to two animals on the plane, one being an emotional support animal, while the other was a passenger’s pet. This led to the woman being physically dragged from the plane when she refused to disembark.

Fellow passenger takes video of the incident on South West Airlines

A video that was taken by Bill Dumas, a fellow passenger on the plane, shows the incident as Maryland Transportation Authority Police physically drag the unidentified woman from her seat.

Dumas told KTLA-TV they had just boarded the Southwest Airlines plane when suddenly the pilot and transit police officers headed down the aisle to the back of the plane. Dumas said a woman, claiming she had a serious Pet Allergy, had asked cabin crew to remove the two animals from the plane.

Woman with pet allergies refuses to leave the plane

However, officials asked the woman to leave the plane, over concerns she might have a medical emergency in the air. When asked to disembark, the woman refused, claiming her father was to have an operation the next day and that was why she was on the flight. As she continued to refuse to leave the plane, transit police dragged her from her seat and physically forced her down the aisle towards the plane's exit.

Dumas said as soon as the officers decided to physically remove the woman, she put up a “lot of resistance,” saying she was adamant that she wanted to stay on the plane. In the video the woman can be heard to repeatedly ask the officers what they are doing, as one officer grabs her around the chest, restraining her arms.

Eventually, she can be overheard telling the officers that if they let go of her, she will walk off the plane, claiming she is a professor.

She can also be heard telling the officers they had ripped her pants. She repeatedly asks that the officers not to touch her, while one officer constantly shouts at her to “walk.”

Southwest Airlines apologize but explain the rules

A Southwest Airlines spokesperson apologized to the woman for the incident, saying in a statement that the airline would contact her over her concerns.

However, according to the airline's website, emotional support animals cannot, by law, be removed from its flights, although cabin crew does make every effort to seat customers suffering from pet allergies as far from the animals as possible. The airline states passengers with a life-threatening allergy can be denied boarding if they are unable to travel safely with animals on board.

Dallas News quotes the spokesperson as saying the customer in question did not have the necessary medical certificate to prove she had a life-threatening pet allergy and was unable to stay on the plane. Southwest Airlines also stated that cabin crew had made several attempts to explain this to the woman before transit officers were called.
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