A family's French bulldog suffocated to death in the overhead compartment on a United Airlines flight after a flight attendant forced the dog's owner to place the dog there for the entire three-hour-long flight from Houston to New York. The dog was in a standard soft sided pet carrier, and the family had paid an airline fee to carry the dog with them in the cabin.
Ms. Catalina Castano was traveling with her 11-year-old daughter and 2-month-old son along with her 10-month-old French bulldog. Ms Castano repeatedly asked the flight attendant to let her keep the dog by her feet, but the flight attendant insisted she stow the dog in the overhead bin. United Airlines has apologized and accepted full responsibility, whatever that means.
A reminder that United Airlines was the airline whose guards came on an airplane and beat a man unconscious and knocked out his teeth in order to get him off the flight after they had over booked it. The airline's motto: "Fly the friendly skies".
i cannot possibly be part of United's policy towards in-cabin pets. Every United employee who had knowledge that the dog was being placed in an overhead bin should be fired immediately, IMO. Criminal charges should be filed. United IMO owes the family financial restitution including pain & suffering.
ReplyDeleteThe adult passenger should have NEVER agreed to place the pet in the overhead bin. It is always the owner's responsibility to protect her dog's life.
As a dog breeder, i have used United both in-cabin and Pet Safe cargo successfully with no incidents. this particular tragedy deserves full legal investigation, however.
"The adult passenger should have NEVER agreed to place the pet in the overhead bin." As has been noted earlier, resist United Airlines' commands and get your head beaten in. Flying the friendly skies appears to be a lose/lose proposition.
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