A woman has claimed that she was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight after her cat pooped in it's carrier during turbulence - and was then left standard in the airport.
The woman, named Alex, took to X - formerly known as Twitter - to dish on the mishap.
'Put a finger down if your kitten pooped in his carrier on the plane because he got scared of a rough landing and the crew was so angry about the smell that they kicked you off your next flight and left you in a random city for 12 hours and now you're rationing cat litter and food in a family bathroom,' the user, who goes by @barelyalex, wrote in the now-viral post.
In a follow up, Alex claimed that her seven-month-old kitten, named Oni, had an accident after he got scared during the turbulent landing on a recent Southwest flight.
Alex explained she had a connecting flight with very little time between, so she was rushed to clean up after the kitty in the airplane bathroom while waiting to de-board.
She explained that she disposed of the dirty paper towels in the airplane bathroom because she didn't think she should flush them down the toilet.
'After wrapping the dirty paper towels in another clean one, I dispose of them in the trash because I am worried about if they can be flushed and expect they take out the trash between flights,' she wrote in the post.
Alex added that she explained the ordeal to the flight attendants, who were 'sweet and understanding.'
'I finish cleaning up and put the rest of the trash in the garbage bag for them to easily get rid of,' she continued.
Although Alex said that when she left the plane, Oni and the carrier were clean, and had no odor - she heard the flight attendants mentioning that they were out of air freshener.
'I rush out and quickly realize I will be re-boarding the same plane [for my connection],' she shared.
'Oni and his carrier are fully cleaned and there is no trace of the incident. No odor at all.'
But when she re-boarded, Alex learned that they had to close that bathroom due to the smell of the trash.
She noted the crew had changed - but the old cabin crew had 'clearly' informed the new staff what happened.
'I go and sit in the back. Flight attendant approaches me in a hostile manner saying they are agitated because they had to close that bathroom for the flight and questions me,' she recounted.
'I am very stressed and overwhelmed and apologetic because I genuinely thought they would change the trash but they did not and have no spray to assist with the smell.'
According to Alex, the flight attendants then told her that the 'bathroom is not your litter box,' which made her cry - as she added that she was 'overwhelmed, embarrassed, and stressed.'
A few minutes later, she said a Southwest agent sat next to her and told her that the crew wanted her off the flight, ultimately escorting her off the plane and rebooking her.
'[My new flight] is over several hours from then, to another airport. Then another layover of over an hour and then finally to [my destination] LAX,' she raged.
Alex added that she was originally meant to land at LAX at 5pm, and now, it meant landing after midnight.
Although the Southwest agent at the rebooking counter told her she did nothing wrong, and said she thought the crew overreacted.
She was ultimately given a $200 voucher for a future flight for her problems.
'I only packed for a few hours so I’ve had to be careful with supplies for Oni but he’s doing great and we have one flight left,' she said in the post.
Alex added she ended up collected her bags at 2am at LAX.
X users were appalled to learn that the trash isn't taken out between flights.
'This is brutal, I can’t believe they kicked you off the flight due to an accident. Sounds like they weren’t prepared at all, no air freshener even?!' one user commented.
'Also it’s ridiculous that they don’t take the trash out between flights?' another said in disbelief.
Others slammed the airline.
'Based on your description of what happened, I think @SouthwestAir owes it to you and other pet-traveling customers to look into what happened here,' someone on X wrote.
'If this story checks out, an apology from Southwest to you is appropriate. In my opinion, air travel with pets should be limited. Many pets are well-mannered onboard, but some can be a nightmare for those in the vicinity.'
