United Airlines is rejecting Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s (R-TX) characterization of a now-viral incident involving his wife and an “unhinged” United employee.
The Texas Republican set his sights on the airline and its CEO, Jack Kirby, on Saturday following an incident involving his wife and an “unhinged” United employee.
Crenshaw shared a video to the platform X in which his wife and her mother can be seen being confronted by a United employee while traveling with two small dogs and an infant.
During the confrontation, Crenshaw narrates how the ticketing agent began to grab Crenshaw’s small dog and his family’s bags after a dispute relating to the dog’s ability to fly.
This is one of the more aggressive videos I’ve ever had to post. You really need to see it all the way to the end. You’ll see a United agent grab the dog and personal property, and you’ll hear the shocking recording of my conversation with that agent’s supervisor (the VP of… pic.twitter.com/xhK0v4zQzw
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) January 21, 2024
“I want to know if it’s United policy for your agents to grab passengers’ pets and property?” the decorated Navy SEAL asks in a question directed at Kirby.
The entire ordeal was unnecessary because their dog has flown over “500 times,” and, eventually, the congressman’s wife was forced to acquiesce and tell the agent that they were going to book a flight on Southwest, according to Crenshaw.
“At a certain point, though, within that 10 minutes, one thing you’ll see here is my wife has to take the dog and remove him from the unhinged United agent … why is she doing that? Because even though they said that they were going to get a different flight, they were done. They were not checking in. It’s over … The United agent wanted to take our dog out of the bag. She wanted to get the dog photograph and report my wife, say they can never fly again,” Crenshaw said.
Crenshaw’s wife protested, which caused the United agent to reach in the bag, grab the dog, and start to touch her property, the video details.
When the Texas Republican heard of the incident, he became upset and contacted United Airlines, and he was connected with United Airlines Vice President of Airport Operations Phillip Griffith, Crenshaw said.
The conversation proved to be a disagreeable one, according to the congressman.
Crenshaw asked Griffith for a video of the incident and knowledge of United’s regulations with regard to customer interactions, he said.
“I deal with people like you and your wife and customers like you every single day,” Griffith said, according to an audio recording of the conversation provided by Crenshaw, who said it is obvious that Griffith “hates him.”
“Your wife was handsy,” Griffith appears to allege. “She was agitated from the very start.”
A video that was shown to Crenshaw appeared to confirm his wife’s story, which led the congressman to accuse United of lying and then curse on the call with Griffith.
“Are you cursing at me?” Griffith appears to ask Crenshaw. “It’s not allowed. So shut up.”
As a result of this incident, Crenshaw is going to use his position in Congress to try and prevent similar altercations with other travelers in the future, he said.
“We’re going to be looking at legislation,” he said. “We’re going to be looking at changes to protect consumers and protect passengers from people like that.”
United Airlines told the Washington Examiner on Monday that it disagrees with Crenshaw’s depiction of events.
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“We attempted to work with the Congressman to resolve his concerns amicably,” a statement from United read.
“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.”