Another United Airlines Pet Mix-Up?
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United Airlines‘ issues with pets continues, and now the airline has acknowledged its third issue within a week.
A flight was diverted to Akron, Ohio, on Thursday after the airline realized a pet had been loaded onto the flight in error, according to CNN and various news outlets.
Flight 3996 was carrying 33 passengers from Newark, New Jersey, to St. Louis, Missouri, but the pet was supposed to be headed to Akron. United told CNN the unidentified animal was “safely delivered to its owner.”
United said it offered compensation to all passengers as a result of the diversion but declined to provide details about the compensation.
Tuesday, a 10-year-old German Shepherd dog, named Irgo, was flown to Japan when the pup was supposed to be flying to Kansas. Irgo was confused with a Great Dane, who landed in Kansas instead of Japan. Two days later, Irgo was reunited with his worried family.
Monday, for reasons still unclear, a flight attendant demanded the owner of a French Bulldog puppy to place her dog into the overhead bin and to close it. The dog died there inside its carrier, presumably suffocating. United Airlines added this response, “As we stated, we take full responsibility and are deeply sorry for this tragic accident. We remain in contact with the family to express our condolences and offer support.”
United also took some positive action toward preventing potential issues like this in the future by mandating that pet carriers be labeled with brightly colored tags so staff will know a pet is inside.