Blind man taken off flight for restless service dog, passengers show support and leave

A US Airways flight from Philadelphia to New York was cancelled after a blind man was taken off the flight because of his restless service dog. The passengers grew angry and reportedly left the plane as well, leading to the flight’s cancellation.

The flight was supposed to leave for Long Island MacArthur Airport at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. Passenger Albert Rizzi told NBC Philadelphia that he boarded the plane about a half an hour earlier. The plane’s takeoff was delayed and around 9:45 p.m., his dog, who is named Doxology, began feeling restless. A passenger next to Rizzi offered to move to another seat so Doxy could have more room.

At this point, the airline said that the dog was actually walking the aisles, against airline policy. So, the crew told Rizzi to take control of the dog, but Rizzi was verbally abusive. The plane was then turned around and Rizzi and Doxy were escorted off. Since the crew felt threatened, they cancelled the flight.

But Rizzi and another passenger who spoke to NBC Philadelphia disagrees with that story. Frank Ohlhorst didn’t recall Rizzi being disruptive.

“The lady comes back and gets very insistent, and I said, 'Look, I don't understand what you want me to do.' I said, 'He's as best as he can, he's where he needs to be,” Rizzi told WABC. “And I hear nobody else moving, and as I'm walking to the front, I'm like wait a second, why am I the only one getting off?”

The airline also denies that the flight was cancelled because angry passengers left the flight. The airline did get a bus trip ready for the passengers to take them to Long Island.

US Airways is investigating the incident, but isn’t giving Rizzi a refund. WABC reports that the bus arrived in Long Island at 2:30 a.m. Had the flight gone on as planned, it would have only taken 40 minutes.