United Airlines, I hate you deeply.

[G. Keenan]

I hope the flight attendant is fired and that the dog's family gets millions.

While I fault the flight attendant, I'm also going to lay a lot of blame on the dog owner. The carrier was sticking out from under the seat, so the flight attendant instructed the passenger to put it in the overhead bin. That's standard procedure when an attendant sees a bag sticking out. If that's my dog? I'm going to push back on the flight attendant and tell them there's no way I'm placing my dog in the overhead bin. Maybe she did, but I can't imagine the flight attendant not finding a solution to safely house the dog/carrier. My guess in this situation is that the passenger never told the attendant that it was a dog carrier, and simply complied with the instructions to place the bag in the overhead bin.

Let's say that the flight attendant still forced the passenger to put the dog up there. It was a multi-hour flight. Did the passenger never get up from their seat and check on their dog? As a responsible and loving pet owner, there is no way in hell I would not immediately check on my dog once I got the chance (full disclosure--I would have refused to place my dog up there, to the point of walking off the plane if they forced me to). Especially if you hear the dog barking!

Currently I'm going to place the blame at 20% flight attendant, 80% irresponsible dog owner. While I understand there are a lot of jerk flight attendants, there's a larger population of people in this country that are completely irresponsible and clueless pet owners.

I hear you. Yeah, the passenger gets a lot of blame here. Whether or not the flight attendant knew there was a dog in the bag, I can't understand how anyone could comply with that instruction. I would have gotten off the plane before agreeing to that.

[MrCrowesGarden]

I really hate “if I were there” comments but even if you want to put some responsibility on the owner, I think more is on the flight attendant

[thrill]

I really hate “if I were there” comments but even if you want to put some responsibility on the owner, I think more is on the flight attendant

I think this blame game is kind of pointless, but one thing that has yet to be brought up is the fact that lost in all of the discussion about whether or not people should travel with their pets or whether or not people are abusing the term "service animal" to travel with their pets is that under the current rules, this is currently allowed and people have to pay extra for it. If you are part of a transaction with an airline that is within their rules and you have paid for, I think there's a reasonable expectation that at the end of your journey, your pet is alive. Part of the airline's job is to ensure that you are getting the service you pay for, and that includes not killing your dang pet. The owner probably should have done something, but the airline is responsible for providing services they agree to.

[Popeye_Card]

I really hate “if I were there” comments but even if you want to put some responsibility on the owner, I think more is on the flight attendant

From what we know to this point, why should we? If they saw a bag sticking out, their standard protocol is to instruct the passenger to secure it under the seat or put it in the overhead bin. I have a hard time believing that if the passenger told the flight attendant that it was a dog carrier, that the flight attendant still forced them to place it in the overhead bin. Unless the flight attendant was completely incompetent.

Not outside the realm of possibility, but given everything the passenger did not do that flies in the face of pet owner logic, I'm more inclined to think the passenger was irresponsible.

[MrCrowesGarden]

I really hate “if I were there” comments but even if you want to put some responsibility on the owner, I think more is on the flight attendant

From what we know to this point, why should we? If they saw a bag sticking out, their standard protocol is to instruct the passenger to secure it under the seat or put it in the overhead bin. I have a hard time believing that if the passenger told the flight attendant that it was a dog carrier, that the flight attendant still forced them to place it in the overhead bin. Unless the flight attendant was completely incompetent.

Not outside the realm of possibility, but given everything the passenger did not do that flies in the face of pet owner logic, I'm more inclined to think the passenger was irresponsible.

How do we know the bag was sticking out? I've not seen that reported anywhere. And I have to imagine if it's a pet carrier, the pet is visible at some point to the flight attendant.

[Swirls]

I really hate “if I were there” comments but even if you want to put some responsibility on the owner, I think more is on the flight attendant

From what we know to this point, why should we? If they saw a bag sticking out, their standard protocol is to instruct the passenger to secure it under the seat or put it in the overhead bin. I have a hard time believing that if the passenger told the flight attendant that it was a dog carrier, that the flight attendant still forced them to place it in the overhead bin. Unless the flight attendant was completely incompetent.

Not outside the realm of possibility, but given everything the passenger did not do that flies in the face of pet owner logic, I'm more inclined to think the passenger was irresponsible.

How do we know the bag was sticking out? I've not seen that reported anywhere. And I have to imagine if it's a pet carrier, the pet is visible at some point to the flight attendant.

It was a TSA-compliant pet carrier, which means it would be quite obvious as to what it was, and that it should have fit properly under the seat in front of her. It's not like the dog was traveling inside the passenger's purse because she was trying to hide the dog or something. Even if the flight attendant didn't realize it was a pet carrier, once the dog started barking in the overhead bin it would have been rather obvious at that point.

And again, if she had an infant and another child with her, along with the dog, perhaps she didn't want to deal with the hassles of getting put on a different flight. Likewise maybe she didn't want to start a viral altercation on the plane if she did refuse to give up her seat.

I'm not saying she's not blameless in this (common sense has to come into play at some point - and if not from her, at least from the surrounding passengers). But the majority of the fault is still on United.

United publicly accepted responsibility for it, which is more than they did with Dr. David Dao. Other than their PR team making a public apology, providing a small settlement to the owner for emotional distress, a $200 airfare voucher, as well as a statement saying flight attendants are going to receive new training on pet handling procedures... nothing will change.

In fact, United's stock overall was still up roughly 2% yesterday (although it's fallen 2% so far today after that story has made its way through additional news outlets and social media networks).

[MrCrowesGarden]

While not nearly as bad as killing a dog, United also got dogs mixed up and flew a dog that was supposed to be going to Kansas City to Japan instead.


https://twitter.com/fox42kptm/status/97 ... 74400?s=21

[Popeye_Card]

I really hate “if I were there” comments but even if you want to put some responsibility on the owner, I think more is on the flight attendant

From what we know to this point, why should we? If they saw a bag sticking out, their standard protocol is to instruct the passenger to secure it under the seat or put it in the overhead bin. I have a hard time believing that if the passenger told the flight attendant that it was a dog carrier, that the flight attendant still forced them to place it in the overhead bin. Unless the flight attendant was completely incompetent.

Not outside the realm of possibility, but given everything the passenger did not do that flies in the face of pet owner logic, I'm more inclined to think the passenger was irresponsible.

How do we know the bag was sticking out? I've not seen that reported anywhere. And I have to imagine if it's a pet carrier, the pet is visible at some point to the flight attendant.

That was reported on the news last night, where I first saw this story.

Perhaps it is apparent when the carrier is out in the open. Under a seat and down by the passenger’s legs, I doubt it is obvious. Being TSA compliant does not mean they are standard issue and all look the same.

I completely understand United taking ownership. They have to in order to control the PR mess. But until I see reports that the flight attendant puposefully told the passenger to put their dog in the overhead bin, I’m inclined to think the flight attendant made an honest mistake.

[Popeye_Card]

As for the passenger, the dog was reported to be a puppy, and I’ll give some benefit of the doubt. Perhaps it was their first dog, and the first time ever flying with a dog. Perhaps they thought it was common practice to place the dog overhead, and it was an adequate breathing space.

Though I still would have checked on the dog during the flight.

[MrCrowesGarden]

I really hate “if I were there” comments but even if you want to put some responsibility on the owner, I think more is on the flight attendant

From what we know to this point, why should we? If they saw a bag sticking out, their standard protocol is to instruct the passenger to secure it under the seat or put it in the overhead bin. I have a hard time believing that if the passenger told the flight attendant that it was a dog carrier, that the flight attendant still forced them to place it in the overhead bin. Unless the flight attendant was completely incompetent.

Not outside the realm of possibility, but given everything the passenger did not do that flies in the face of pet owner logic, I'm more inclined to think the passenger was irresponsible.

How do we know the bag was sticking out? I've not seen that reported anywhere. And I have to imagine if it's a pet carrier, the pet is visible at some point to the flight attendant.

That was reported on the news last night, where I first saw this story.

Perhaps it is apparent when the carrier is out in the open. Under a seat and down by the passenger’s legs, I doubt it is obvious. Being TSA compliant does not mean they are standard issue and all look the same.

I completely understand United taking ownership. They have to in order to control the PR mess. But until I see reports that the flight attendant puposefully told the passenger to put their dog in the overhead bin, I’m inclined to think the flight attendant made an honest mistake.

I'll just say that I also ran the story in my newscast last night and saw no mention the carrier was sticking out. I've yet to find any link making mention of it either. If you find such a link I would be appreciative.

I don't know if there was malice on the flight attendant's part, but I'm also inclined to believe she's the cause of the problem.