United Airlines has been grabbing headlines all week after one of its flight attendants reportedly asked a woman to put her a dog in an overhead bin. The dog was killed mid-flight and has heightened an already heavy public skepticism about the airline.
And what happened yesterday definitely isn’t going to help United’s case.
According to CBS local affiliate KCTV, United Airlines accidentally sent a Kansas family’s German shepherd on a flight to Japan instead of returning it to Kansas on Tuesday.
KCTV reports that Kara Swindle was moving from Oregon to Kansas City with her children and dog, Irgo. They arrived to their destination just fine, however when they went to pick up Irgo from United’s cargo facility, they received a Great Dane instead of Irgo.
“I just want to know where my dog is,” she said at the time. “The fact that we don’t have any idea is the most frustrating part. He could be in Kansas City and we have no idea because the paperwork is all messed up. They have our paperwork here saying that this is the correct dog, but we know it’s not. It’s just horrible.”
They later came to find out that Irgo had been sent to Japan instead of Kansas City – and there was a good chance when he returned to the US he’d have to be quarantined for several weeks before he can go home.
United issued an official statement on the matter and apologized for the inconvenience.
“An error occurred during connections in Denver for two pets sent to the wrong destinations,” a United spokesperson told KCTV. “We have notified our customers that their pets have arrived safely and will arrange to return the pets to them as soon as possible. We apologize for this mistake and are following up with the vendor kennel where they were kept overnight to understand what happened.
Kara Swindle just says she hopes her dog is okay and that her family will be reunited with their dog soon. She also mentioned that Irgo is 10 years old and she’s not sure he’ll be able to survive the flight back to the states.
“I don’t know what else to do at this point. I can’t cry anymore. I’ve cried too much,” she said.
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