United Airlines Staff “Kicked My Dog” Twice, Says Disabled Veteran [VIDEO]-UPDATE
Military veteran Jim Stanek with his dog Sarge
Vet Also Claims United Staffers Asked if He Was ‘Retarded’
A disabled veteran is claiming that employees for United Airlines physically abused his service dog and then verbally abused him, according to a story in ‘The Daily Mail.’
Veteran Jim Stanek says the incident started on July 16th at Washington Dulles Airport at the United Airlines counter.
‘Some United Airlines employees were moving by and one of them was startled, turned, and kicked my service dog,” Stanek says in the video. “Didn’t kick her hard, but … they kicked her.’
Stanek said his dog ‘Sarge’ was kicked a second time by another United worker.
‘I was so angry and so confused about why she would be kicked,’ he says in the footage. ‘Sarge doesn’t have an aggressive bone in her body, she’s a mush.’
Stanek says has post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as traumatic brain injury (TBI) following three tours in Iraq.
When his flight was delayed Stanek says he repeatedly asked if someone would help him after hearing about the delays but was brushed aside. ‘I was in a lot of pain, physically mentally and emotionally at that point.
‘I couldn’t get any help and that was the most disconcerting thing about it.’
At one point, having sought assistance from a customer service adviser with reading a booking confirmation email Stanek was asked: ‘Are you retarded?’
Stanek admits to yelling and cursing at that point as he was very upset by the ordeal.
‘I completely lost all composure at that point,’ he says. ‘I started yelling, I used four letter words which I really try hard not to do.
‘I was done and there was nobody helping me. I was very distraught, very disgruntled.’
Reports say U.S. Department of Transportation has opened an investigation into the incident, with the cooperation of the airline.
Airnation.net contacted United Airlines to get their side of the story and spokeswoman Mary Ryan gave us a brief statement:
“We are reaching out to the customer directly to discuss the events that he described.”
UPDATE – July 24, 2012:
United spokesperson Mary Ryan has released the following statement regarding the status of the above incident:
“We have spoken with Mr. Stanek and several United employees about the delays Mr. Stanek experienced and the assertions about the actions of our employees,” Mary Ryan, spokesperson for United Airlines told Reduced Mobility Rights on Tuesday.
“We are not yet able to confirm whether all of the individuals he encountered were in fact employees of United, but we take Mr. Stanek’s assertions seriously and continue our review and our discussions with him.”
Category: Airnation
Reminds me of a younger John Locke from “Lost”…
POOR GUY. UNITED NEEDS TO TEACH HIS EMPLOYEES TO RESPECT THEIR CUSTOMERS. THEY ARE NASTY AND VERY DISTANT AND AVOIDING THE PEOPLE WHO PAYS THEIR SALARY. I AVOID FLYING WITH THEM.
I’m really curious to hear all the details for what happened. maybe the dog growled at the workers? Why would they just kick the dog? That makes no sense to me.
Makes no sense to me either. Who intentionally kicks a German Shepherd? Now there’s two people in two days that kick his German Shepherd, both wearing United uniforms? It’s amazing how so may people are “up in arms” over one guy with a web camera and a story with no witnesses. Throw in some hot button words like “service dog”, “veteran” and “PTSD” and everyone is willing to believe this guy’s story is 100% accurate.
I think this guy probably had a bad experience with one customer service person and is doing whatever it takes to get them fired and discredit United at the same time. I bet they find witnesses that back-up the part of customer service person calling him retarded, but they find no witness to his dog getting kicked.
We’ve heard nothing regarding an update on this as of yet. When we do we will let everyone know. :)
This is horrible that anyone would kick any animal but particularly a service dog. I hope to see followup to this from United Airlines and not just that it’s left with them looking into it.
Not all employees are curteous. Several years ago 5 of us were having trouble making a connecting flight and the lady at the desk as we rushed to board, an airline other than United, was very rude even after hearing one of our party was dying of cancer and was moving as fast as he possible could. The rudeness was uncalled for especially due to the fact there had been weather delays, security delays and this person was on his last trip before he died. Just a lovely way to treat a passenger!