Passengers on a Southwest Airlines flight from St. Louis to Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday had to step over a reeking pile of paper towels covering up a biohazard after a large service dog defecated on the floor. The Belgian Malinois was traveling without a carrier at its owner’s feet in the bulkhead row, and had become restless in the preceding moments.

Because the accident occurred at the very front of the aircraft, every passenger onboard had to make their way around it when leaving the plane. According to a passenger onboard, the “absolutely enormous” dog mess left a foul smell throughout the cabin around 25 minutes before landing as flight attendants struggled to clean it up.

Large Service Dog Has “Catastrophic Accident” On Approach

Credit: Elliott Cowand Jr | Shutterstock

The incident occurred during the final stretch of Southwest Flight 4981 from Lambert St Louis International Airport (STL) to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) on Tuesday. According to a passenger’s post on Reddit, the first two hours of the flight were perfectly normal before the “very large” Belgian Malinois seated in 1C suddenly became restless and started to scratch at the carpet.

After watching a passenger pass by and enter a lavatory, the service dog then had “an absolutely enormous, liquidy, disgusting, truly catastrophic accident” in the aisle. The subsequent smell was described as “unbelievable,” apparently leaving one flight attendant standing by the exit holding back vomit as another used paper towels to try and clean up the mess.

With minimal time to address the biohazard before landing, the soiled area was covered up with a pile of paper towels. After the aircraft landed, the crew made an announcement over the PA system advising passengers to be careful when deplaning. According to the passenger’s post on Reddit,

“I cannot adequately describe the volume involved. It looked like this animal had eaten two large pizzas, a dozen cheeseburgers, and then made the decision to relieve itself all at once – with 25 minutes remaining as we were on final approach.”

Aircraft Was Back In The Air An Hour Later

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Looking at flight tracking data, the aircraft in question – a new Boeing 737 MAX 8 (registration: N8975K) – was operating its next segment just over an hour after landing. Having touched down in Fort Lauderdale at 1:40 PM local time, it departed for its next rotation to Baltimore (BWI) at 2:59 PM, realistically giving cleaning crews less than an hour to clear the biohazard and the rest of the plane.

Commercial airlines carry equipment onboard for such scenarios, including biohazard bags, gloves, and disinfectant wipes. This is for the cabin crew to contain the affected area rather than properly clean it. The bulk of the cleaning work is performed by ground crews, who will use more substantial equipment and stronger disinfectants, even replacing carpet sections if necessary.

In a notable incident in April 2024, a United Airlines flight was forced to divert after a service dog defecated in the first-class cabin. Following this, ground crews reportedly spent around two hours cleaning the carpets. Southwest also made headlines in November after denying boarding to a woman after her service dog defecated at the service desk.

What Is Southwest’s Pet Policy?

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Southwest’s pet policy allows only small cats and dogs in the cabin, which must be contained in a carrier stowed under the seat. However, trained service animals fall into a separate category under federal rules, while emotional support animals lost their previous status under the same federal rules and are now treated as pets.

It isn’t certain if the Belgian Malinois was a service dog, as the Reddit user claims it only had a collar that said ‘Do Not Pet,’ but was not a marked service dog. Under Department of Transportation rules, a service animal is defined as a dog individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability.

A Belgian Malinois is a large breed that typically weighs between 60 and 80 pounds, so it is definitely not eligible to travel under Southwest’s pet policy. The dog’s owner was apparently traveling with two other dog owners, each accompanied by a dog weighing an estimated 30 pounds.