Plane Passenger Finds Out Who’s Sitting in Front—and It’s a Very Good Boy

A passenger boarded a Delta flight only to learn they had been assigned a very important seat neighbor: a golden retriever.

The internet is filled with stories of nightmare seatmates on flights, from entitled people demanding a seat swap to taking up too much space or generally picking a fight.

But, for Reddit user u/Noxx-OW, on his recent flight, he was sitting near what many animal lovers would describe as a dream passenger. On July 21, he shared a post to r/delta, writing: “My front row neighbor this flight. What a good boy.”

And in a photo taken of the row ahead of him, between two seats, showed a smiling golden retriever. The dog appeared relaxed as he sat in the footwell of a seat, looking at a human in the seat next to him.

Reddit users loved the post, awarding it more than 1,400 upvotes, as one commenter posted: “Why is this never me? I would LOVE to have a dog in front of or beside me.”

Another praised Noxx-OW for the “positive post,” with a third adding: “A paw-sitive post!”

“He can sit next to me any time,” one comment said, and another added: “I would take an entire F cabin full of them any day of the week compared to some of the [passengers] I get stuck near.”

“Much better and more fun than many passengers,” a third read, as one poster put it: “This is an acceptable seat mate. In fact, a preferred seat mate.”

One commenter asked if the passenger reached between the seats to pet the dog, but as another wrote: “If it’s a service dog, generally it’s strongly advised not to pet.”

The Deltawebsite says that small animals, including dogs and cats, can travel in pet kennels underneath a passenger’s seat, which will count as a carry-on item.

Service dogs who are fully trained to assist a person with a disability may also be allowed on board, if they fit within the foot space of the passenger’s seat and do not intrude into the space of other customers. Emotional-support animals are not recognized as service animals in this respect.

Newsweek has contacted u/Noxx-OW via Reddit and Delta via the Delta website for comment on this story.

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