HOUSTON — A local Congressman blasted United Airlines after a tense exchange over their dog policy during his family's trip last November.
The video posted by Rep. Dan Crenshaw went viral. Crenshaw called the United ticketing agent's reaction "unhinged" and said it's emblematic of larger issues passengers are dealing with every day.
"The United agent wanted to take the dog out of the bag," Crenshaw said in an Instagram post this weekend.
As of Monday night, the video had been seen more than 1.5 million times.
"She wanted to get the dog, photograph him, and report my wife so they can never fly again," Crenshaw said.
In the Instagram post, Crenshaw detailed his wife's experience with United at Bush Airport from last November. He also spoke to KHOU 11 News about it.
"The way they've handled it has been appalling," Crenshaw said. "I didn't want to go public but they gave me no choice."
His wife, mother-in-law, 2-year-old infant, and two dogs were supposed to fly to meet him, but they never got on board. An agent told his wife his dog, Joey, was too big to fly.
"Anybody that flies with pets knows how subjective and ridiculous the standards are," Crenshaw said. "In the video, you can see there's no dog pressing against the edges of it (the crate), it's a small dog."
Frustrated, his wife tried to buy a ticket on Southwest. In the video from the airport, she's seen on her phone trying to figure out another way to get to her husband.
Minutes later, things escalated.
"As my wife is trying to push my daughter away, that agent reaches in and grabs at the dog and starts ripping old tags off," Crenshaw said. "It's completely inappropriate."
Crenshaw shared in the post that he was able to set up a meeting with United's VP of Operations at Bush Airport, Phillip Griffith. That meeting, which Crenshaw recorded and we reviewed, didn't go well.
"He easily could have said we watched the video, we can't believe the agent acted that way we're going to take care of it," Crenshaw said. "You heard the recording. It was completely the opposite."
Now, Crenshaw is vowing to push for legislation that standardizes in-cabin pet standards and protects passengers from being mistreated by airline agents.
"There's a lot of congressmen and a lot of senators that have reached out to me already and said let's partner up on this," Crenshaw said. "Our constituents are demanding it. It's not a partisan issue. Our constituents don't want to be treated like crap."
United Airlines released this statement in response:
"We attempted to work with the Congressman to resolve his concerns amicably. We disagree with his characterization of what happened, and stand behind our employees who were upholding United’s policies on in-cabin pets to ensure the safety of his dog."