An incident involving an Alaska Airlines passenger erupted when staff denied her request to place two cats under her seat during a flight.
The traveler, who later identified herself as Alexandra Compton from Portland, Oregon, was visibly upset on Sunday as airline employees courteously explained their pet regulations.
“Show me the policy that says my cats must weigh a certain amount to fit under the seat,” Compton, now residing in Las Vegas, demanded in frustration.
She accused the airline staff of “ruining Christmas” after they informed her that the cats couldn’t travel under the seat due to lack of space and needed larger carriers for safety.
“You haven’t even seen my cat, and now I can’t go home for Christmas,” Compton retorted.
“I don’t have anyone here to watch my cat. I’m not from here. I live in Oregon, and I have an Oregon ID. I need to get home for Christmas,” she insisted.
An employee informed her that the issue was not with the weight of her cats, but rather with their size.
Her angry outburst at an unidentified airport was captured in a TikTok video where she was deemed the ‘Two Cat Karen’.
A woman, who identified herself as Alexandra Compton, blew up at Alaska Airlines staff when they told her she needed two different carriers for her pet cats
Compton, from Portland and living in Las Vegas, alleged the airline staffer was ‘telling me I’m not going home for Christmas, because you don’t like that I have two cats’
An airline staffer asked Compton to lower her tone, as he tried to show her how to correctly book a reservation for her cat on Alaska’s website.
‘That’s not where I booked my flight, though,’ she claimed.
Compton’s distress only increased after she was told that she had never even booked her pets for her upcoming flight.
‘My mom tried to and your website obviously isn’t user friendly, so I’m asking you to show me right now, where she would’ve learned that before she booked my flight, so this issue would’ve never happened?’ Compton said.
She repeatedly alleged that Alaska did show her the information to ‘add a cat or tell me that I couldn’t take my cats’.
Compton claimed to have traveled ‘many years’ with her feline pets without any issues.
‘You’ve never had a pet in [your] reservation?’ the staffer asked her.
She responded: ‘No. I come here, I pay the $120, I get a ticket on my bag, I go on the plane.’
The woman accused the airline of ‘ruining’ her Christmas, as she attempted to travel to Oregon, and claimed to have flown with her cats for ‘many years’ without issues
Alaska Airlines staff told Compton that company policy dictated her feline companions did not ‘have enough room’ and could not travel in their current arrangement
The staffer pointed out that Alaska did not charge that price for pets.
The airline’s website said fees for pets start at $100 and ranged up to $200 depending on the type of travel and destination.
Alaska Airlines’ policy indicated that ‘up to two pets of the same species and similar size may travel in the same carrier,’ as long as ‘no body parts protrude from the carrier and the animals are not in distress’.
‘It’s only $100,’ the worker said. ‘You’re getting your airlines mixed up.’
This only incensed the so-called two-cat Karen.
‘Why are you the one to decide that I can’t take my cat on the plane right now?’ Compton asked, at an elevated tone.
The angry passenger defended her choice of carrier, as she accused the employee of targeting her pets.
‘This bag is quite compatible. It goes on the plane, it fits on the plane. That’s why I bought this bag, specifically, so that I could fly home for Christmas,’ Compton said. ‘And you’re not telling me I’m not going home for Christmas, because you don’t like that I have two cats.’
Alaska Airlines’ website said fees for pets started at $100 and ranged until $200 depending on the type of travel and destination
Compton told the Daily Mail: ‘The post has gotten more than enough attention and my side has been shared enough. I’m not tripping to explain any thing more’
Compton said she had to buy another carrier to travel with her cats, but eventually boarded a later flight with both pets despite the verbal confrontation
Staff made another attempt to calm Compton down by telling her that the ‘yelling is not going to help you’.
‘I’m not yelling,’ she said. ‘You’re telling me I can’t go home for Christmas right now. You understand that? Do you understand that? I am about to start crying.’
The nonplussed staffer was not moved by Compton’s plea.
‘You can do whatever you choose,’ he said. ‘But I’m letting you know that there is a policy around your pets that don’t have enough room, and you don’t get to decide the company policy’.
She fired back: ‘Why are you ruining Christmas right now? Your company doesn’t decide if my cats are comfortable or not.’
Footage of the incident ended with the Alaska staffer informing the woman that she would actually have to pay for two separate carriers, as her two cats could not go in the same transporter.
On Sunday, Compton said she had to buy another carrier but still got on a later flight with both cats despite the spat.
‘They made me leave the airport, buy a second pet carrier, a second seat to put the Second [sic] cat under,’ she claimed on Facebook. ‘On a whole new flight 3 hours later.’
When contacted by the Daily Mail, Compton said: ‘The post has gotten more than enough attention and my side has been shared enough. I’m not tripping to explain any thing more.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to Alaska Airlines for comment.
