Flying the Unfriendly Skies – Part II

By Amy Fernandez

It could almost be called a comedy of errors if not for the tragic consequences. Just one day after United made headlines around the world for the callous treatment and death of a passenger’s ten-month-old Frenchie pup, a German Shepherd with an intended destination of Kansas City was somehow was re-routed to Tokyo. Yes, that Tokyo!

According to a United spokesman, the mix-up occurred during a flight change at its Denver hub. It also resulted in a Great Dane bound for Tokyo to end up in Kansas. Dane, Shepherd, Tokyo, Kansas….everybody gets those mixed up, right?

Although this latest gaff thankfully didn’t lead to any pet deaths, rather inconveniently for United, there were plenty of media watchdogs on hand following up the previous day’s disaster. That led to the next almost laughable episode in this horror show when the company explained that the flight attendant responsible for banishing the pup to its death in a sealed overhead bin, “Didn’t realize a bag that a passenger was forced to stow in any overhead compartment contained a dog…” Possibly, that statement was intended to limit the airline’s legal liability. It also defies belief. Carry-on bags generally don’t bark. Moreover, it clearly contradicts myriad cell phone videos of the incident that have been posted to social media.

It does however; say plenty about the corporate reaction to this needless tragedy. They just don’t give a damn, which is pretty well indicated by their intended remedy of issuing big neon yellow stickers to identify animals in transit. TSA, AWA, and USDA already have plenty of safety guidelines in place to ensure the safe shipment of live animals. United apparently marches to a different tune. Almost 75 percent of in-flight live animal fatalities for the last three years have occurred on United flights. That obviously has not spurred any procedural changes. The recent tragic events might inspire them to make a cultural change within their company.

United shares dropped 2.6 percent by Wednesday and that’s gonna hit them where it hurts most.

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Posted by admin on Mar 16 2018. Filed under Breaking News, Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.