After the death of a French bulldog puppy that was placed in an overhead bin on one of it’s flights, United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz confirmed to NBC Wednesday, March 22nd, that the airline will continue to review the situation while the pet transportation program has been suspended, but that there are no long-term plans to close it down.
It was reported on March 14 that the puppy died after the owner was asked by a flight attendant to place the travel bag it was being transported in into an overhead bin. The passenger’s protestations that there was a dog in the bag were either not heard or were misunderstood by a member of the cabin crew who insisted on the bag being stowed in the overhead bin, and United have since apologized to the owner for the tragic outcome.
In addition to issuing an apology, United has also confirmed it intends to issue passengers travelling with in-cabin pets with brightly colored bag tags so cabin crew can easily identify that an animal is being transported in the cabin. United also stated that under no circumstances should any animal ever be placed in an overhead bin.
United carries more pets on domestic flights than any other carrier in the U.S., a consequence of which has resulted in United being involved in 18 out of 24 deaths reported for animals in transit last year. Additional recent problems have included a German shepherd dog mistakenly sent to Japan rather than Kansas City.
In a recent interview, when questioned about closing down the option for pet transportation, Munoz commented: “Doing away with something would be the simplest thing to do,” adding: “That’s not what we’re going to do. That’s not what United’s about.”