Delta Airlines wants proof your dog is good to fly

Good dog or bad dog Delta wants to know before you board
Associated Press
David Koenig
January 20, 2018

A rift has grown between disabled people who rely on trained service animals, usually dogs, and passengers with support or comfort animals, with many in the first group suspecting that those in the latter are just trying to avoid paying $125.

However, owners of comfort animals, including veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, often say that they wouldn't be able to travel without their companion.

DALLAS - Delta Air Lines will soon require owners of service and support animals to provide more information before their animal can fly in the passenger cabin, including an assurance that it's trained to behave itself.

The airline says complaints about animals biting or urinating or defecating on planes have nearly doubled since 2016.

Starting March 1, Delta will require owners to show proof of their animal's health or vaccinations at least 48 hours before a flight.

Owners of psychiatric service animals and of those used for emotional support will need to sign a statement vouching that their animal can behave. But owners will be on the honor system - they won't have to show, for example, that their dog graduated from obedience school.
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Considering you can buy a service dog vest at Walmart...

Fallen Soldier Left Alone At Atlanta Airport Hype

First start with what happened and then read the headline.

At no point were the remains left unattended. In fact, a member of Delta's dedicated Honor Guard as well as a military escort were inside the vehicle as they waited for the arrival of the outbound aircraft.

They are never left alone.
Delta's Honor Guard welcome home fallen soldier and dog
Emotional moment Delta's Honor Guard welcomes home fallen soldier and dog as team of Delta employees volunteer to commemorate in special ceremony.
If you want to see a movie for Memorial Day, start with this one. Kevin Bacon in Taking Chance.




Delta spokesman says that you can even see a worker in the corner of the picture and you can see his arm and orange vest. Too bad this close to Memorial Day the reporter couldn't have shown more dignity to the fallen soldier than start with a headline like this.

Iraq veteran claims soldier's body was left unattended at airport
WBRC
By Dante Renzulli
Posted: May 20, 2015

ATLANTA (CBS46) - It's not unusual for Delta Air Lines to be trusted with the important task of bringing home the remains of a fallen soldier.

Normally, you will find the Delta Honor Guard present as a flag-draped transfer case is loaded or unloaded onto a plane. But Iraq veteran Steven Cathey said when he looked out the window of his connecting flight at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, he saw a soldier's body sitting alone.

CBS46 reached Cathey by phone at his home in Jacksonville. "It's kind of upsetting to see a fallen service member, another brother or sister in arms, just sitting there out in the open, like a piece of luggage," said Cathey.

According to Cathey, other passengers noticed too. He said he observed the soldier's body unattended for at least 20 minutes. "We were talking about it on the plane, and then I took it from the plane and put it up on social media to see what other people had to say about it," said Cathey.
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Delta Airline Pilot-Navy Reserve Officer Death Under Investigation in Qatar

Navy officer dies in Qatar
Cmdr. Christopher Kalafut, 49 of Oceanside, dies in non-combat incident
UT San Diego
By Jeanette Steele
OCT. 26, 2014

A 49-year-old Navy officer from Oceanside died Friday in Qatar in a non-combat incident, the Pentagon said Sunday.

Cmdr. Christopher E. Kalafut was in Doha at Al Udeid Air Base. He was part of U.S. Central Command's Naval Amphibious Liaison Element.

He was serving in Qatar as part of the war effort in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon said the incident is under investigation.

Kalafut was a Navy Reservist who had worked as an airline pilot for Delta since 2001, based out of Atlanta. He and his spouse, Mary, bore five children ranging from age 12 to 21.

A Delta release said the family resides in Acworth, Ga., and noted that he was the subject of an article in Georgia's Marietta Daily Journal on Father's Day this year.
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Silver Star Marine was not good enough for Delta

Wounded Silver Star Marine had unfortunate experience on domestic flight
MAY 9TH, 2013
Military Times Battle Rattle

A wounded warrior who was awarded the nation’s third highest honor for valor last week is the same injured Marine Delta Airlines issued a public apology to in December after staff members embarrassed him on a flight.

Cpl. Christian Brown, a former squad leader with 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, was awarded the Silver Star aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., on Friday. He is credited with heroic actions during the unit’s 2011 deployment to Afghanistan.

Cpl. Christian Brown, a double amputee who sustained injuries in Afghanistan, was awarded the Silver Star on May 3 aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., for heroic actions during a 2011 deployment. In December, Delta Airlines issued a public apology to the Marine after humiliating him during a flight.

On Dec. 7, Brown responded when a designated marksman was critically wounded in the head, calling in a medevac and leading his squad to where it was safe for the helicopter to land. Under heavy fire, he carried the wounded Marine on his back the final 300 meters to the landing zone, his citation states.

Brown said the morale of his young, inexperienced team members and the life of the wounded Marine, Lance Cpl. Christopher Levy, depended on him staying cool and thinking fast. Levy died of his wounds a few days later in Germany. But Brown’s actions allowed Levy’s parents to see him one last time.
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Marine double-amputee’s treatment on Delta flight angers other vets

Marine double-amputee’s treatment on Delta flight angers other vets

Marine double-amputee’s treatment on Delta flight angers other vets
Washington Post
Posted by Annie Groer
December 13, 2012

On Dec. 13, 2011, Marine Lance Cpl. Christian Brown was leading his squad on a foot patrol in Afghanistan’s Helmand province when he stepped on an explosive device that blew off both his legs, one above the knee, the other below his hip. He also lost part of his right index finger.

Last Sunday, almost exactly a year since those grievous injuries forced him to learn to walk on two successive pairs of prosthetic legs, Brown was “humiliated” to the point of tears on a Delta flight from Atlanta to Washington after being clumsily wheeled to the back row of the plane, according to a complaint sent to the airline by an outraged fellow passenger.

Worse yet, according to retired Army Col. Nickey Knighton’s detailed “customer care” report to Delta, efforts by several fellow vets to shift Brown from coach to a first class seat offered by another flyer, were rebuffed by the crew. Flight attendants insisted no one could move through the cabin because the doors were being closed for takeoff, she wrote.

Knighton, a former helicopter pilot with nearly 30 years of service, who turned out to be seated in the same back row as Brown, assumed that because he boarded last, he would be seated up front for comfort and ease of exit in case of emergency. Instead, she wrote in a complaint obtained by “She The People,” he was squeezed into a narrow aviation wheelchair that “bumped up against stationary aisle seats as he was wheeled through the aircraft. [He] was obviously humiliated by being paraded through the aircraft and was visibly upset. I touched Brown on his shoulders and asked if he was okay. Tears ran down his face, but he did not cry out loud.”
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Angry yet? Wait because it isn't the first time something like this happened. It happened on a United Flight as well.

Paralyzed OEF Marine sues over deplorable treatment at airport
Paralyzed Veteran Sues Over Treatment at Airport
Nov 14, 2012
Chicago Tribune
by Jennifer Delgado

CHICAGO -- A former Marine Corps sergeant who was paralyzed while serving in Afghanistan claims he was mistreated at O'Hare International Airport almost two years ago when airline and airport-related employees allegedly injured him and let him sit in his own urine for nearly two hours.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court, Sgt. Joseph Smith, of North Carolina, says United Airlines and Air Serv Corporation employees refused to help him to his seat during a layover in Chicago on Nov. 19, 2010. Smith, who requires a wheelchair to travel after being paralyzed in Operation Enduring Freedom, was headed to Colorado Springs, Colo., for training as part of a Paralympic shooting team, said his lawyer, Alexander Loftus.