“You’re Prioritizing A Dog Over My Baby Boy”: Entitled Parent Freaks Out Over Plane Seats

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Traveling can be tiresome as it is, but some people manage to make it even more exhausting with their demands.

For this redditor, it was an entitled parent who disturbed what could have been a completely uneventful flight. The parent wanted their “baby boy” to get the seat that was reserved for the OP’s assistance dog, but the owner was not willing to give in to their entitled ways.

Under certain conditions, assistance dogs can accompany their owners on flights

Image credits: Can Do Canines (not the actual photo)

This person refused to give up their assistance dog’s seat to an entitled parent’s “baby boy”

Image credits: simonapilolla (not the actual photo)

Image source: silver_splash

Assistance dogs provide crucial practical assistive tasks

Sometimes it seems that plane seats bring out the worst in people. While politely asking someone to switch seats is in no way bad when you can take no for an answer, fighting passengers for something that’s rightfully theirs is distasteful at best.

The entitled parent asking for the seat next to the OP did eventually take no for an answer, but not without spending the rest of the flight saying that the redditor “hated children”. But in reality, the reason was completely different—the seat was reserved for their assistance dog, which, as the OP pointed out in the comments, was part of a social program for integration of people with disabilities in society.

While some people might have thought the passenger was just traveling with their pet, it’s important to distinguish that an assistance dog—typically wearing a sign pointing that out—is not simply a beloved pet. According to Dogs For Autism, “fully trained assistance dogs perform practical assistive tasks for their disabled partners or alert to life-threatening medical conditions to enable their owners to be independent.”

That’s why they can accompany their humans in places or situations regular pets might not be allowed to. But even then, they might have to provide certain documentation, as the redditor revealed they had to do in order to have their assistance dog next to them on the plane.

There are certain things people can and can not do around assistance dogs

As service dogs provide crucial assistive tasks, it’s important to be respectful of the work that they do and act accordingly. According to Guide Dogs Of America, there are certain things one should and should not do when around such a canine, one of the most important ones being approaching the handler first before approaching the dog (which should only be done upon receiving permission). It’s also strictly forbidden to feed the assistance dog no matter how much of a good boy it is and how much you believe it deserves a treat.

For fellow dog owners, it’s important to remember that they should keep their doggos away from the assistance dog. In case the said dog approaches you first, you might want to inform its handler about it, as it might be unwanted behavior that has to be corrected. Last but not least, if a service dog without an owner approaches you and tries to signal you in any way, be it a nudge or a bark, follow the dog to the owner and see if they need any help.

Nowadays, there are reportedly 500,000 assistance dogs in the US alone, so chances are you might meet one, be it on a plane, in a shopping center, or someplace else; and if you do, don’t follow the example of the entitled parent in the OP’s story and try to be respectful of both the dog and the handler.