May 12, 2003, Boston Logan International Airport Micro-Sized Horse Flies First Class You might get a kick out of this story. There is nothing unusual about AA boarding a service animal on one of its flights. In fact, it happens every day. But what if the service animal was miniature horse? AA boarded a miniature horse named Cuddles in the first class cabin of flight 429 from BOS to ORD. Cuddles, standing a mere two feet tall, weighing 70 pounds, and roughly the size of German shepherd, was boarded in front of seats 3A and 3B of the first class cabin. The micro-sized horse along with it's blind owner were en route to attend the taping of the Oprah Show on service animals. Initially, there was reluctance to accept the horse but because AA is the official airline of the Oprah Winfrey Show and did not want the bad press, the horse was allowed travel on the flight. Everything went fine on the flight until it came time for landing. Unfortunately, AA's aircraft are not equipped with lavatories capable of accommodating service animals, especially the equinely type. In answering nature's call, Cuddles did its horse business on the floor next to the bulkhead of the first class cabin, subjecting the entire aircraft's passengers to the pungent odor of manure. Cabin service personnel had to do excessive cleaning and airing out of the strong odor to prepare the aircraft for the next flight. Allowing unusual service animals to fly is nothing new. Back in November 2000, US Airways made the news by allowing Charlotte a 300-pound Vietnamese pot-bellied pig fly first class from Philadelphia to Seattle as a companion animal to a woman with a heart condition. The porcine made the trip almost uneventfully, sleeping the entire 6-hour flight, until it awoke when the flight arrived at the gate in Seattle-Tacoma International airport where it began squealing and did its business on the floor of the first class cabin. Upon reviewing the incident, the FAA later ruled that US Airways acted perfectly properly and in accordance with regulations. _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail