United Airlines: not as pet friendly or safe as advertised
United Airlines is experiencing some heavy turbulence from the pet loving community after several recent dog related disasters with their four legged passengers. Gaining major media attention recently were the incidents involving almost killing a greyhound with hyperthermia, and unintentionally shipping a dog bound for Phoenix to Ireland.
The PetSafe program advertised through United Airlines claims pets will be climate controlled and special tracking will be made available to ensure high saftey standards are met. According to United Airlines, “PetSafe offers airport-to-airport delivery for animals and features a 24-hour live animal desk, the ability to track pets from origin to destination and more.”
Certainly the “and more” was not intended by the pet owners to be an accidental round trip around the world. In May 2013, six-year-old “Hendrix” a Springer Spaniel was put on the wrong flight by United Airlines staff while leaving Newark. The pup ended up in Ireland despite a planned arrival in Phoenix.
Dog owner Janet Sinclair’s dog was not as fortunate in receiving a “joy ride” across the globe for her greyhound “Sedona” was nearly killed traveling on United Airlines. Sedona was left on the tarmac in extreme heat and weather conditions by United Airlines employees, overheated and nearly died because of her mistreatment. Janet Sinclair was forced to watch helplessly as her dog’s crate was repeatedly kicked and then left out in the elements before being shoved onto her plane.
Upon arrival Janet Sinclair found Sedona suffering from a full heat stroke, defecating and urinating blood. It took 3 days in ICU and nearly $3,000 for Sedona to become stable. United Airlines agreed to pay all the medical bills only if Sinclair would sign a non-disclosure contract and agree not to go public with the disturbing and near fatal animal abuse and neglect her dog underwent during the care and handling of the airline.
United Airline declined an interview, but issued this statement, “We are committed to ensuring safe and comfortable travel of all the pets that fly with us and regret that Sedona did not have a good experience. We offered to compensate Ms. Sinclair by fully reimbursing her vet bill, but unfortunately she declined to accept the terms of the agreement.” In an email, NBC Bay Area asked Jennifer Dohm of United’s corporate communications office if the airlines will not reimburse Sinclair because she did not sign the nondisclosure agreement. “That’s correct,” Dohm responded.
According to NBC Bay Area, “Also, by law, airlines must report whether a pet is hurt, lost or dies on a trip within 45 days of an incident occurring. As of November, the Department of Transportation has no record of Sinclair’s pets’ injuries, even though they were sustained in July.”
Sinclair states, “I still want to be reimbursed but I’m not going to be quiet.” She also started a Facebook page “United Airlines Almost Killed My Greyhound.”
