A Navy veteran’s service dogs were denied access on a Frontier plane

Michael Stinnett, a Navy veteran who proudly served his country for eight years, missed his flight after not being allowed to take his service dogs on a plane from Denver to Washington, D.C. Stinnett now works as an attorney helping disabled veterans. He struggles with service-related health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder. He depends on his 2 documented service dogs Gwen, a 4-year-old American bulldog, and Rue, a 7-month-old chihuahua bulldog mix. -00:10

“If I’m having a really bad panic attack, they detect that real quickly,” he told FOX31. The dogs also assist Stinnett with his physical disabilities. “I can’t really walk downstairs or down slopes or whatever, and so they’ll help me,” he said. Though Stinnett regularly flies with Gwen and Rue, he was not allowed to take both dogs on his flight from Denver to Washington on Feb. 18. “They said buy another ticket or don’t get on the plane,” he said.

Stranded, he reached out to the airline’s corporate office saying he felt embarrassed and demoralized. He said that hours later, the airline placed him on another flight. “I was like, ‘Thank you, I appreciate it,’” he said.

Frontier Airlines explained that the posted policy regarding customers traveling with two service dogs allows for one of the animals to fly in the customer’s lap if it is no larger than the size of a 2-year-old child. The second dog can be on the floor as long as it does not impede passengers’ ability to pass by the dog in the event of an emergency. The statement said the gate agent in Denver did not feel these requirements were met, in which case the customer would need to purchase an extra seat.

Frontier is investigating the inconsistency across the different legs of Stinnett’s journey. Stinnett said he was concerned about his dogs spending extra time in the airport.

“I’m mostly happy to get them back home,” he said.