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United Airlines Mistakenly Flies Kansas-Bound German Shepherd To Japan

Soumis
 
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CBS News) – United Airlines says it’s investigating after mistakenly flying a Kansas family’s dog to Japan. CBS affiliate KCTV reports that Kara Swindle and her two children flew from Oregon to Kansas City, Missouri, Tuesday on a United flight. They went to a cargo facility to pick up 10-year-old Irgo, a German shepherd, but were instead given a Great Dane. Swindle, of Wichita, Kansas, learned Irgo had been put on a flight to Japan, where the Great Dane was supposed to go. The… (losangeles.cbslocal.com) Plus d'info...

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canuck44
canuck44 20
A least they didn't put the dog in the overhead.
sparkie624
sparkie624 10
Hmm... German Shepard... Would have been an interesting fit... At least the dog did not die on the flight!
Bernie20910
Bernie20910 8
They get a second crack at it on the return flight.
TorstenHoff
Torsten Hoff 7
If you think the German Shepherd would have been a tight fit, wait until you try the Great Dane that was supposed to go to Japan...
shenghaohan
Shenghao Han 7
Also... giving the dog is 10 year old and the strain of long haul flights... I don't think it will be good news for them...
shenghaohan
Shenghao Han 1
And killed it :(
TorstenHoff
Torsten Hoff 9
Well, Irgo is back home with his family in the US. To their credit, United flew him home in the cabin of a United corporate jet.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/16/us/united-flight-dog-returns-home/index.html
Tomheatherington81
Great, now commercial air travel is ruined for Irgo. From now on it's private jet travel or nothing. It would be cruel and tortuous to make him go back to flying coach after he's tasted the bliss of corporate air travel.

Bernie20910
Bernie20910 6
Yeah, but I heard his seat still didn't recline more than 20mm, the in-flight movie had no audio, they didn't have his brand of beverages, and there were two kittens in the seat behind him that didn't stop crying for the whole trip.

And his luggage is in Buenos Aires.
TorstenHoff
Torsten Hoff 5
In the kitten's excuse, one of them had a broken hip.
Tomheatherington81
No bottled toilet water to drink? Outrageous!
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
He got to fly home on a Global Express 6000... Speaking of getting 1st class treatment!
mwkraft55
Michael Kraft 7
The dog is being flown home on a chartered global express. Airborne now.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/RKS69
sparkie624
sparkie624 4
Great news... He is getting a much better ride home than on the way back....
fhphotog
John Hepburn 6
Really, why does anyone even think of flying United if there's any alternative at all . . . car, train, bike.
godestiny
William Medlin 6
UA has been practicing with peoples luggage for decades,sending luggage to one airport, passenger to another.
erisajd
erisajd 4
Kansas, Kansai - whatever.
kiwipop
Geoff Arkley 1
Melbourne Australia, Melbourne Florida. Same place aren't they?
abekhechi
Nothing new under United's "friendly skies".. .UA is becoming a whatever airline which you fly when you have no other options: horrible ground service, less than acceptable business class cabin and non-responsive customer service makes it less and less attractive to frequent flyers on long-range flights...I thought they will learn the lessons of previous bankruptcies' protection experiences but apparaently they do not ! and complaining about competition from European or middle eartern "subsidized" airliners won't explain or justify anything in the less than acceptable service provided to loyal customers
DaveRK
DaveRK 3
Untied Airlines Does It Again.
i actually take pleasure in reading just how screwed-up this joke of an airline has become.
cassoff747
Peter Cassoff 2
Bring back Continental brand and bury the united brand in its grave as its never been any good since 1978
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
Geez... I was actually thinking about Piedmont Airlines (Main Line) back when USAir was PSA! They were great to work for and everyone friendly.... I know exactly what you are saying.
davebartell
Dave Bartell 3
I think people-people respect has to do with harsh environment and physical "personal" space. it is much more difficult to be cordial when angered.

Humans are put in an agitated state by flying - too many animals in a pen - fighting for scarce resources. False expectation and entitlement lead to overt competition.

Also, the USA experience creates a culture of FEAR. (TSA & now NFL security)

- security process agitates through search and seizure shake-down
- terminals blast music and outdated threat announcements (liquids really? still?)
- poor choices for food (fat and sugar reign super-sized)
- fighting for place (false promise of "status" & expectations of getting it)
- fighting for luggage and personal space onboard
- physical crowding and crew blathers on about not standing or "loitering" especially near the front
- fear of missing connecting flights

Maybe it's time to lighten up on the siege mentality that pervades flying. We no longer hear the threat level is "orange". Perhaps we need to keep shoes on, give up the liquids fantasy, and body scans that can't seem to sort out the lint in my pants pocket.

Thank god we didn't take the underwear guy seriously. Imagine everyone's undies in a zip lock baggie?
sparkie624
sparkie624 3
It just hit me.. that poor dog was in the carrier for 12 hours, no food, no water, no bathroom break... They are lucky he survived without water!
sparkie624
sparkie624 5
2 Days in a row, United gets a Black Eye and what does United have against Dogs....
canuck44
canuck44 -1
Can be too bad...they hire a lot of them.
jbsimms
James Simms 0
LOL. And they look like them, too
wsmchann
Will McHann 2
Good possibility: Mislabled or misinterpreted - Wichita (ICT) Seoul (ICN)
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
LOL.... KICT to be exact... He did not fly UA back, or he may have ended up in ICN :)
thegrump
thegrump 2
Tot... er, Irgo, you’re not in Kansas any more.

On the plus side, the customer service team will give them a coupon for one free in-cabin clubbing.
TorstenHoff
Torsten Hoff 2
It just occurred to me tha the family may not get their dog back for quite some time due to quarantine requirements.
cassoff747
Peter Cassoff 2
This never happen in the good old days of flying because old school workers had aviation mentality. It's the mentality of the people working in the airline industry today. They have all the latest computer technology before them and they still cannot get it right
clandel
Actually, it very well might have. My girlfriend was flying from Cincinnati to Denver via St Louis in the mid-70's and while seated on her flight happened to glance out the window to see her dog being loaded aboard the neighboring aircraft. She raised hue and cry, and was able to get her dog loaded onto her flight.
lewisdann
Dann Lewis 2
In the late 60's my black lab was sent to Zurich instead of Nassau from Boston. This was a trip home after summer vacation. The Nassau/Boston r/t was an annual event for several years. Dog arrived home safely the following week!
jbsimms
James Simms 2
Remember this blast from the past?

United Breaks Guitars

https://youtu.be/5YGc4zOqozo

United Breaks Guitars, Pt. 2

https://youtu.be/h-UoERHaSQg
nathansthepilot
Nathan Cox 1
Well at least the dog didn’t go on a wok. :)
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
LOL... Yeah.. They love to "WOX your DOG!"
Bernie20910
Bernie20910 2
Right, because JAPAN has a reputation for that...
kerimparrot
Mike Williams 1
What about luggage tags?
sparkie624
sparkie624 4
Those are just for looks and advertisements! - You aren't trying to insinuate that the ground crews would use them for anything are you? :)
brianrush
hope he had a round trip ticket?
BenShockley
Ben Shockley 1
United Airlines vows to make changes after puppy dies in overhead ...
Video for United Airlines Makes another mistake today▶ 2:03
abcnews.go.com/.../united-airlines-vows-make-puppy-dies-overhead-...
2 days ago Unacceptable!
davebartell
Dave Bartell 5
Vowing to change and changing are not the same. One is talking about it. The other is, well, changing.
willbproggin7
willbproggin7 1
This will probably be an unpopular comment, but I really don't see the point in bringing your animal with you when flying.

I have a beautiful German Shepherd, but she doesn't have to go everywhere I go. Leave the animals with friends, family or neighbors and stop making everyone else pay (allergies, peace and quiet, etc) for your animal addiction!

Much of society has become ridiculous when it comes to pets. When I got to stores (even food and grocery stores), 30 to 50 percent of the patrons have animals with them. I even saw a guy walking his cat down the aisles on a leash! Come on folks!
sparkie624
sparkie624 3
In the article, they were physically moving, not just going on vacation. They shipped everything, including the Dog and Car... The Dog reluctantly got rerouted!
SoNic67
SoNic67 -2
I am convinced that the flight attendants and luggage handlers today are chosen based on affirmative-action quotas, not based on their skills or even IQ.
I travel a lot by US carriers (work related), and have seen so many examples that even making me wonder if they do it on purpose sometimes, to "stick it to the man".
sparkie624
sparkie624 3
In the industry we do not call them Baggage Smashers for just any reason... They earned the little!
abekhechi
Not at all, my experience shows that even long time career staff seem not interested in promoting their company's image...three flights on over the oceans trips on business class (three incidents: flight cancellation and horrible process to leave the plane, recover bags and find an alternative flight....seat change, no working video and audio system, lack of responsiveness of cabin crew) and always the same advice: write to customer service...my response was I'm not gone hire an assistant for the purpose of complaining about UA bad service...instead I will keep looking for more reliable carrier for my next trips which I have done and will be doing as much as I can. Since these incidents occurred, I flew with Ethiopian Airlines, Lufthansa, Air France and Etihad....No comparison and no brainer UA is last !
obrun26
Robert OBrien 1
Cargo, luggage frequently have unusual routes. One ORD-EWR flight had my baggage ultimately in DXB.
cuthbert31
allan howell 1
A broad statement with no data; whats the affirmative action criteria you are referring to? there are several a you probably are aware. Don't hide behind the popular generalism, say what you mean!
SoNic67
SoNic67 0
But ultimately, legally, it's the owner responsibility to care for the pet.
Related to the other incident: If you think that a certain action puts his life in danger, you should NOT do it. Even if that means you will have to lose that flight.
Pay an extra seat, don't shove your dog in the overhead bin to save some money!
sparkie624
sparkie624 3
The problem is a lot of passengers do not know all the rules and they are told that they much listen to every command a flight attendant gives... No matter how stupid it is.
abekhechi
Correct and I can say stupid things are often said by flight attendants on the ground
davebartell
Dave Bartell 0
I know we all love UA bashing, but is it statistically worse?
bigbill3111
bigbill3111 3
Yes they are. Out of something like 24 dogs that died on all flights last year, 18 of them were on UA.
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
I think they all are horrible... Used to be fun to fly in the old days.. People respected each other, We had a little more room, and flying was pretty glamorous and airline employees had to wear suits or at least dress pants, tie, and jacket... Once that went away, things went down hill fast.
africantilapia
Adrian Piers -1
They were obviously "Swindled" out of their dog!
maverick49
Tom Novak -1
(Duplicate Squawk Submitted)

Dog bound for Kansas mistakenly shipped to Japan via United Airlines

United Airlines wrongly shipped a Kansas-bound pet dog to Japan, the second embarrassment this week for the airline and a "nightmare" for the Swindle family -- who are moving from Oregon to Wichita with their beloved pet, a 10-year-old German shepherd named Irgo.

https://airlines.einnews.com/article__detail/436958148-dog-bound-for-kansas-mistakenly-shipped-to-japan-via-united-airlines?vcode=XIbw

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