Guide Dog Dispute Causes Airline to Cancel Flight

A dispute involving a blind man, his guide dog and an airline crew led to the cancellation of a flight from Philadelphia to New York, leaving passengers to travel by bus to their destination.

Albert Rizzi said the argument began Wednesday night when a crew member told him to put his service dog under the seat in front of him as they waited for the US Airways Express flight to leave.

“She was very confrontational, to the point where her tone was not appreciated,” he said. “I was ripped off the airplane. I was very upset.”

Rizzi said the dog was curled up beneath his legs. But flight attendants described the dog as agitated and expressed concern that Rizzi was not controlling it.

Rizzi became verbally abusive, and the crew decided to remove him, spokeswoman Liz Landau said. That decision caused some of the other 33 travelers to become upset, she said, and the flight was canceled. US Airways then arranged for a bus to Long Island.

But passenger Frank Ohlhorst said that Rizzi wasn’t being disruptive. “We were like, ‘Why is this happening? He’s not a problem. What is going on?’” he said.

Landau said the airline is reviewing the incident.

This article appeared in print on page 6 of the November 15th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.