Photo: fox17.com / Alan Wilson / CC BY-SA 2.0 via MGN
Nothing compares to the love of a pet owner – and the pain they feel when they have to part ways with their gentle companions. Apparently, the pain is just as great if you have fish for pets.
Lanice Powless has had Cassie, a pink male beta fish since her junior year in college, when she would often feel alone. She traveled with him all over the country, she says, and she never had any issues bringing him on board a plane, as a carry-on.
That changed last week, she tells USA Today, as she was preparing to board a flight from Denver to San Diego. Though TSA allows passengers to travel with “live fish in water and a clear transparent container,” Southwest Airlines only accepts cats and dogs in the cabin.
Because she’s never had issues with taking Cassie with her, Lanice didn’t think to check Southwest’s pet policy. She arrived to board the plane and was told she wouldn’t be able to take the fish with her; shocked at the news, she asked the gate agent to allow her to leave Cassie on the desk for half an hour, until a friend of hers came to pick him up. Lanice says she was denied.
By this point, she was desperate, so she started asking people flying with other companies if they were allowed to take fish as carry-on. She saw an older lady behind her and she said she would take Cassie, so she gave him away.
Once they were through, Lanice claims, security tagged her and the other woman all the way to their respective planes, acting as if they’d brought something dangerous into the airport. She believes they thought they would make the exchange after they’d passed security.
“I don’t know where my fish is at. I don’t know if they allowed her to take it,” Lanice adds.
In a statement to the same media outlet, Southwest Airlines claims they offered Lanice the possibility to leave on a later flight so she would have time to make arrangements for her fish to remain in Denver. Lanice denies it and she’s furious at how the company handled the matter.
“Everyone’s laughing at me. Yes, it’s a fish. I know,” she says. “But dang, it was my pet.”
Dang, indeed.
That changed last week, she tells USA Today, as she was preparing to board a flight from Denver to San Diego. Though TSA allows passengers to travel with “live fish in water and a clear transparent container,” Southwest Airlines only accepts cats and dogs in the cabin.
Because she’s never had issues with taking Cassie with her, Lanice didn’t think to check Southwest’s pet policy. She arrived to board the plane and was told she wouldn’t be able to take the fish with her; shocked at the news, she asked the gate agent to allow her to leave Cassie on the desk for half an hour, until a friend of hers came to pick him up. Lanice says she was denied.
By this point, she was desperate, so she started asking people flying with other companies if they were allowed to take fish as carry-on. She saw an older lady behind her and she said she would take Cassie, so she gave him away.
Once they were through, Lanice claims, security tagged her and the other woman all the way to their respective planes, acting as if they’d brought something dangerous into the airport. She believes they thought they would make the exchange after they’d passed security.
“I don’t know where my fish is at. I don’t know if they allowed her to take it,” Lanice adds.
In a statement to the same media outlet, Southwest Airlines claims they offered Lanice the possibility to leave on a later flight so she would have time to make arrangements for her fish to remain in Denver. Lanice denies it and she’s furious at how the company handled the matter.
“Everyone’s laughing at me. Yes, it’s a fish. I know,” she says. “But dang, it was my pet.”
Dang, indeed.
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