Dog Dies After Being Forced Into Overhead Bin on United Flight, Airline Offers Lame Apology
This is just awful.
An 11-year-old girl’s dog died on a United Airlines flight after an attendant forced her French Bulldog to fly in an overhead bin for four hours.
Though Catalina Robledo and her daughter, Sophia Ceballos, should have been able to store their dog underneath their seat in their TSA-compliant pet carrier on their flight from Houston to New York, a yet-to-be identified hostess stuffed the pooch into the unventilated storage compartment.
“My mom was like, ‘It’s a dog, it’s a dog,’” Sophia told WNBC on Tuesday night. “And (the flight attendant) said, ‘You have to put it up there.’”
Passenger Marie Gremminger described the incident as a “triggering moment where it didn’t feel right” to NBC New York.
“(Another passenger and I) looked at each other and said, ‘Did they just put the dog up there?'” Gremminger said.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd60VuolQfq
The fight crew did nothing as the dog, a puppy named Kokito, barked and yelped throughout the journey.
“While we were flying, the dog started barking and barking and there was no flight attendants coming. We couldn’t stand up because there was a lot of turbulence so we weren’t allowed to,” Ceballos, speaking on behalf of Robledo, told ABC 13.
When they finally landed, Robledo opened the overhead compartment and found Kokito had perished.
https://twitter.com/_Fever7/status/973685078604861440
“She was saying, ‘Kokito, Kokito wake up!'” Ceballos recalled her mother saying. Gremminger added that Robledo broke down and cried.
Differing accounts call into question whether the flight attendant realized that there was a dog in the overhead bin. According to Ceballos, they definitely did.
“She said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was a dog. I thought it was a normal bag.’ But we told her it was a dog, she’s lying,” Ceballos said.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BebxurLlxRf
The Chicago-based airline took responsibility for for the “tragic accident that should never have occurred,” and offered to pay for an autopsy. Robledo’s tickets and the $200 pet fee were refunded.
NY Daily News reports that a staggering 18 animals died in United’s care in 2017, compared to the six killed among all other U.S. airlines.
It’s United’s second faux pas involving a dog to occur just this week. The airline mistakenly sent a Kansas family’s German Shepherd to Japan on Tuesday.
That gaffe, along with Kikito’s death, has caused an outrage among Twitter users. Some are comparing it to last year’s incident in which a bloodied man was forcibly dragged from a United flight.
Don't Fly United Airlines:
✔️Cut ties with NRA
✔️Dragged Chinese Dr. off plane
✔️Forced puppy into overhead bin & the puppy diedThis is animal cruelty. #UnitedAirlines
— #ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) March 13, 2018
https://twitter.com/superclarkeyboy/status/973681560061870081
United Airlines: when we’re not brutally beating our passengers, we’re suffocating puppies
— Petty Wap (@peppermcdougal) March 13, 2018
I think that flight attendant who forced a woman to place her puppy into overhead bin should be prosecuted for animal abuse. #united airlines
— Biden's Ukrainian Pension Fund. 🌎🐾🌿💚🇵🇸🔻 (@GotBeachGlass) March 13, 2018
So United Airlines kills puppies now? FUCK YOU @united
— stoss (@stossssssy) March 13, 2018
I can't put into strong enough words how much I hate United Airlines right now. How any flight crew could do this to a 10-month old puppy is beyond me, and I hope they pay dearly for doing so. https://t.co/ftqyQAc096
— The Darkest Timeline Numbersmuncher (@NumbersMuncher) March 13, 2018
https://twitter.com/Pink_About_it/status/973706624757006337
There is NO WAY I would have let ANYONE put my furbaby in an overhead compartment. I'm not blaming the owner, the attendant / airline is to blame, but I would have gotten off the plane before I allowed that to happen if that was me.
— (((Allison Ivy))) (@Allison_Ivy79) March 14, 2018
Not a good look, United.
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