A United Airlines passenger is mourning the death of her dog after flight crew forced her to store the poor dog in an overhead bin during her flight.
via NYDN:
The French bulldog was traveling Monday with its owner and her children from Houston to New York. A flight attendant ordered the passenger to store the dog in her carrier, passenger June Lara wrote in a Facebook post.
Other passengers reportedly heard the dog, believed to be 10-months-old, barking during the flight before it was found dead upon landing at LaGuardia Airport.
"There was no sound as we landed and opened his kennel," Lara wrote. "There was no movement as his family called his name."
Maggie Gremminger, another passenger, was heartbroken over the family's loss.
"I want to help this woman and her daughter," she tweeted. "They lost their dog because of an @united flight attendant. My heart is broken."
United Airlines said it was investigating the incident and expressed its condolences to the family.
"This was a tragic accident that should never have occurred, as pets should never be placed in the overhead bin," the company said in a statement. "We assume full responsibility for this tragedy and express our deepest condolences to the family and are committed to supporting them."
The airline's pet policy states, "A pet traveling in cabin must be carried in an approved hard-sided or soft-sided kennel."
"The kennel must fit completely under the seat in front of the customer and remain there at all times," the policy reads.
United needs to really think about the actions of their employees, first they dragged the man out his seat to a the bloody pulp. Now they have killed someone’s dog??? What’s next? Denying someone’s grandmother of their medication?
UPDATE:
VIA TMZ: United Airlines says its flight attendant did not hear or understand the woman whose dog was placed in an overhead bin -- but it's taking new steps to avoid a repeat disaster ... TMZ has learned.
United tells us by April it will start issuing "bright colored bag tags to customers traveling with in-cabin pets." The idea is the visual tag on a pet carrier will help flight attendants know for sure when someone's traveling with an animal.
The airline says that's exactly what didn't happen in the case of Catalina Robledo and her French bulldog, Kokito. United says after speaking to passengers and crew members, it believes Catalina did tell the flight attendant she had a dog in her tote bag carrier -- but the flight attendant "did not hear or understand [Catalina]."
United also repeated its earlier statement ... that the flight attendant did not knowingly place the dog in the overhead bin.
