Date: 201702
Aircraft: B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operator: Air Carrier
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Taxi
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Flight Attendant (On Duty); Flight Attendant In Charge
Reporter qualification: Flight Attendant Current
Human factors: Other / Unknown; Situational Awareness
Anomaly: Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Passenger Misconduct
Detector: Person Flight Attendant
When detected: Aircraft In Service At Gate; Taxi
Contributing factors: Human Factors
Primary problem: Human Factors

Narrative: During boarding a Flight Attendant (FA); arrived at the boarding door in uniform with a dog on a leash. I was FA 1 and was standing at the boarding door. I stated 'Oh. I was told that there weren't any service animals on this flight.' She stated that the dog was not a service animal but she would put him in the carrier once she got to the seat. She went to her seat and the boarding process continued. After we had played the safety video I did my walk through for my safety check. I noticed that the flight attendant had her dog swaddled in a blanket in her arms. I told her that the dog needed to be in the carrier under the seat. She said that she would before we took off. I told her that now would be the time and waited for her to do it. She told me that I did not need to wait and I said 'as a flight attendant; you know that I do. I am performing my safety checks and need to make sure that everyone is in compliance.' She then got upset and said 'just wait until I come up there later and have a word with you.' I felt as though she was trying to intimidate me and so I asked her if she was threatening me. She laughed and asked me 'do you really want to do this?' I again took this as intimidation and asked her if she wanted to go back to the gate. She laughed and then put the dog in the carrier. I finished my checks and then went to the front and looked up her name on the tablet. I noticed that the passenger sitting in her seat had a paid ticket so to confirm who she was I went back to her and asked for her ID. She did not show me her ID but instead wrote her name and employee number on a sick bag and gave it to me while stating 'go ahead and call the office. They all know who I am.' I felt this was another way to intimidate me. The dog was in the carrier so I went to my seat in the hopes that she would calm down.During the flight I spoke with my captain about the situation and we both agreed that we would wait to see if she gave us any more problems before we took further action. At the end of the flight while I was doing my safety checks before landing I noticed that the dog was again out of the carrier but she was putting him back in it. Once we got to the gate the captain came out of the flight deck as soon as possible to witness if there were any further problems with the flight attendant. The flight attendant then deplaned with the dog out of the carrier on a leash. The captain said that he was going to go talk to her about her actions and followed her off the plane. I did not hear anything else so I figured that the situation was being taken care of. Last week I was asked to come into the office to speak with my Manager. She stated that she received a complaint letter from [the Flight Attendant in question] stating that I was rude and did not handle the situation properly. I was told by my Manager that I should have never waited to make sure that she put the dog in the carrier and that my job is not to 'enforce' FAA regulations but only to 'inform'. She stated that I should have told her to put the dog away only a couple of times and then let her be. She stated that the flight attendant was trying to calm her dog down because he had anxiety about flying. When I told her that [the Flight Attendant in question] tried to intimidate me she responded by defending [the Flight Attendant in question] by saying that the dog was a rescue dog and had special needs and that I should have spoken to [the Flight Attendant in question] about the dog when she got on the plane.I need some guidance because now I'm confused about my place in my job. I cannot find anywhere in the manual that states that a dog who is not a service animal can remain out of the carrier for any reason. It is also my understanding that passengers must be in compliance at all times and should not argue or intimate a flight attendant under any circumstance. What should I have done in this situation? As a flight attendant are we just supposed to inform the passengers about the rules and then let them be? Please help me understand this situation better.




Synopsis: B737 Flight Attendant reported having to instruct an off duty Flight Attendant in uniform; to keep her small dog in its carrier prior to and after the flight.