Hacker News Reader

Comment by pontus | Hacker News Reader

I used to have a dog and got this feedback from people quite often.

As far as I understand, pet allergies are not like peanut allergies in that they're not actually lethal (correct me if I'm wrong!) As such, I feel like it's just one of those things that people might just need to deal with when they're part of a shared space much like sitting next to someone with bad body oder, someone chewing loudly, or someone laughing out loud when they're watching their tv. If it's too much of an annoyance maybe one can try to get moved to a different seat?

View on HN

I mean no offense, but this is insane. I have a cat that I love like it's my child, so I sympathize with where you're coming from, but come on. You're basically saying that people with legitimate medical conditions caused by your pet's presence should just suck it up because at least they aren't going to die. All so you can travel with your pet. Talk about a lack of empathy...

No, that's not at all what I'm saying. I'm saying that if someone seated next to me is allergic to my pet (or for whatever reason doesn't want to sit next to it), then they could relocate either me or that person so that we're sufficiently far apart not to cause any issues.

The argument presented to me in the past (and also the argument in comment I was replying to) is that since some people are allergic to pets or otherwise dislike them, we should completely disallow traveling with pets in a blanket fashion. I'm simply saying that I think that's too extreme and that a middle ground can be found.

If we're going to completely ban pets on airplanes, then we should consider also banning flying with a cold because of immunocompromised people (in fact this is perhaps more warranted given the severity of the situation).

> it's just one of those things that people might just need to deal with when they're part of a shared space much like sitting next to someone with bad body oder, someone chewing loudly, or someone laughing out loud when they're watching their tv

These are things we accept with extreme annoyance, because the alternative is creating a scene or having to deal with the sort of person who's already shown themselves willing to act with disregard for others. It's not something we treat as normal and right behavior that the victim just needs to "get over". Surely you've encountered someone playing loud music on public transportation or something similar; just because no one says anything doesn't mean that we all think it's okay.

Who cares if the allergies are lethal or not? They'll cause the person to be miserable for days, possibly cause hives, possibly cause an asthma attack. That's not comparable to sitting next to someone who's annoying/smelly.

My allergies aren't too bad, but they are still worlds worse than sitting next to someone who smells bad.

I have two cats and love them to death, but if I were to fly with them, I would volunteer to move to a different seat if I found out I was seated near someone with bad allergies.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com