A woman from California is fighting JetBlue because she says that not letting her emotional support dog travel with her last year caused her Stage 4 cancer to come back. The woman and her husband say JetBlue also broke the Americans with Disabilities Act when a crew member kicked them off the flight, leaving them scrambling to find a new way to get home, according to the lawsuit.
Peter and Oksana Kiritchenko say that when they booked their tickets, they gave JetBlue the appropriate U.S. Department of Transportation Service Animal Air Transportation Form. After their outbound flight, everything went smoothly. But when they tried to get on their return flight, they were told that Pier could only come on if one of them moved to the main section.
“Plaintiffs had an urgent need to get back home (Mrs. Kiritchenko had to be in Los Angeles for her checkups because she has cancer), so they agreed,” the claim says.
She agreed, but later, a flight attendant told her to put Pier in a bag that was “much smaller.” The plane went back to the gate because he didn’t fit, and they had to find a new flight. The first flight out of Miami was the next day, so they had to drive from Fort Lauderdale to Miami and stay in a hotel there for the night. Delta didn’t mind that Pier flew with them, which is good news.
Peter and Oksana Kiritchenko sued JetBlue because they said they were treated with “an unexplainable level of cruel humiliation and ridicule” when they couldn’t bring their dog with them in first class. Also, they say that their “federally protected right to be on the flight with their service animal was violated.”
In addition, the case says that Oksana Kiritchenko was in remission before the events listed above, even though she had Stage 4 cancer. Those things caused Mrs. Kiritchenko a great deal of stress. She went to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles as soon as she got home. The test results showed that the average amount of tumor molecules (MTM/ml) had increased to 0.59. Several tests done in the past showed readings of 0.00.
We don’t know yet if these claims will hold up in court. The ADA does not control flight problems, as Live and Let’s Fly points out. Instead, the Air Carrier Access Act does. It seems that Pier is called both a service animal and an emotional support animal in the complaint, which makes it hard to tell if the dog should be considered a service animal or not. According to the ACAA, JetBlue would have had to make room for a trained service dog but not an emotional support animal. It is also very clear on JetBlue’s website that dogs are not allowed in first class.
Oksana might be able to say that her worry caused her cancer to come back, but I don’t see how she could do that. We’ll keep an eye on this case as it goes on, though, because stranger things have happened.
