United Airlines “assume[s] full responsibility” for the death of a 10-month-old French Bulldog that suffocated and died after it was placed inside an overhead compartment. The puppy was traveling on a three-hour flight from Houston to New York City on Monday March 12, 2018.
According to accounts from fellow passengers on United Flight 1284, a flight attendant had reportedly insisted and demanded that a female passenger traveling with the puppy and her two children place the dog in its carrier inside the overhead bin because the carrier was sticking out into the aisle. The woman protested said witnesses, but the flight attendant assured her that the dog would be safe, and told her the family would not be allowed to travel if she refused to stow the dog in the bin. The attendant later on said that she was not aware that there was a dog in the carrier.
When the airplane landed at LaGuardia Airport and the owner retrieved the carrier and found the puppy was no longer breathing. She fell to the aisle on the plane and began to cry. The puppy’s name was Kokito. The passenger’s name is Catalina Robledo.
United has issued a statement regarding the incident.
In a statement, United said:
“This was a tragic accident that should never have occurred, as pets should never be placed in the overhead bin. We assume full responsibility for this tragedy and express our deepest condolences to the family and are committed to supporting them. We are thoroughly investigating what occurred to prevent this from ever happening again.”
According to United’s pet travel policy, small pets can travel in the cabin in a TSA aproved hard-sided or soft-sided kennel for a fee of $125. The carrier must fit in the space underneath the seat in front of the passenger at all times.
“I just flew into LGA and witnessed a United flight attendant instruct a passenger to put her dog bag in the overhead bin,” tweeted passenger Maggie Gremminger. “It was clearly a dog and while the customer was adamant about leaving it under the seat, the attendant pushed her to do so.”
Gremminger said she and another passenger were concerned that the dog would not be safe inside the overhead bin, but assumed that the flight attendant’s adamancy meant that there must be air ventilation inside the compartment.
June Lara posted on Facebook and stated that “[United Airlines Attendants] INSISTED that the puppy be locked up for three hours without any kind of airflow.” Lara wrote a post on Facebook early Tuesday.
The puppy whimpered through the beginning of the flight, but eventually quieted and most likely passed from suffocation.
“I am disgusted and traumatized. Pets are family,” Gremminger said. “How could a trained flight attendant instruct a passenger to place her dog in that bin. It was her job to understand the plane and it’s rules/limitations.”
United said in its statement that the airline is conducting an investigation into the incident “to prevent this from ever happening again.”
Photos of the dog and its travel carrier posted by Lara suggest that the puppy may have been a pug, a dog breed that is particularly susceptible to suffocation if not given adequate access to air and ventilation.
“This little guy fought hard for his life, filling our flight with his cries until he finally ran out of breath,” Lara wrote in his post. “United Airlines does not care about the safety of their furry travelers. This poor family paid $125 for their pet to be murdered in front of them. There is no excuse for the pain this family is suffering.”
In 2017, United transported 138,178 animals and account for 27 percent of the total number of animals transported by all the major airlines in the U.S. United has transported more than any other commercial air carrier,
United’s “PetSafe” facilities are intended to help safely transport animals that are not allowed to travel in the cabin of the aircraft with their owners. At some airports, dogs, cats, and other small and mid-size animals are carried to and from the plane in temperature-controlled vehicles, and the airline says it has veterinarians on staff to monitor the animals’ welfare as they wait to board.
But that doesn’t mean that there are never tragic outcomes. A 2017 report issued by the Department of Transportation (DOT) indicated 24 recorded incidents of an animal dying while being transported by major U.S. air carriers. Of those 24 incidents, 18 occurred on United Airlines.
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