Smelly cat incident on a Southwest flight sparks debate about flying with pets
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- An X post about a Southwest passenger's kitten was viewed more than 20 million times.
- The woman said she was kicked off a flight after cleaning up her cat's poop with paper towels.
- Some replied with messages of support but others were less sympathetic about flying with pets.
An airline passenger's tale about a kitten that pooped in its carrier sparked a debate about bringing pets on flights.
In an X post last Sunday that racked up more than 20 million views, a user named Alex said she was kicked off a flight and left in "a random city for 12 hours."
She said she was on a Southwest Airlines flight when her seven-month-old cat, Oni, got scared during a rough landing and had "an accident."
Alex said she took the carrier to the plane's bathroom and cleaned the mess with paper towels, putting them in the trash before asking a flight attendant for a garbage bag.
Her connecting flight turned out to be on the same plane, she said.
She added that a new crew was on board, and the bathroom was closed off due to the smell.
Put a finger down if ur kitten pooped in his carrier on the plane bc he got scared of a rough landing & the crew was so angry about the smell that they kicked u off ur next flight and left u in a random city for 12 hrs and now ur rationing cat litter & food in a family bathroom pic.twitter.com/KV3VtChu41
— alex (@barelyyalex) December 29, 2024
A "hostile" flight attendant then questioned Alex and made her cry, she said, before a Southwest agent escorted her off the plane.
The agent sorted another route to Los Angeles for her, involving another layover, and gave her a $200 voucher, Alex said.
Southwest Airlines did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Alex's post about the incident resulted in thousands of responses on X both supporting and criticizing her conduct.
"They handled that so poorly, I'm so sorry," one user replied. "I hope you and Oni make it to your destination safely."
Another reply with 7,000 likes said: "Worse things happen in those bathrooms."
Some others were less sympathetic. One repost with more than 1,000 likes said they had "zero sympathy" for people who fly with their pets and "play persecution when something goes awry."
An estimated two million pets are taken on commercial flights annually in the US, according to a 2023 research paper published in the academic journal Animals.
This isn't the first time that a fecal airline incident has made headlines.
Last April, a United Airlines flight was diverted after a dog pooped in the plane's aisle.
And in 2023, a transatlantic Delta Air Lines flight had to turn around after a passenger had "diarrhea all the way through the airplane."