United Airlines suspends pet cargo service
A trio of dog related mishaps in barely a week has prompted United Airlines to suspend PetSafe, its cargo shipment service for animals.
The airline acknowledged the problems and will not accept any new PetSafe bookings while it reviews the service.
"We know we need to improve, but we also know the best way to do that is to stop and take a look at this," United spokesman Charlie Hobart said.
The wholesale review will take about a month and will not impact pets permitted to travel in plane cabins such as service animals or passengers with existing PetSafe bookings.
"This is a thorough and systematic review of our program. It is to further minimize risk and further increase the comfort and well-being of the animals that we carry and finding the best way to do things," Hobart added.
"Our highest priority is always safety — safety of our customers, safety of our employees and safety of the pets that travel with us."
The issue came to the fore last week when a French bulldog died after being placed in an overhead bin by a flight attendant.
Then two dogs were placed on wrong flights, which resuled in one ending up in Japan.
Rivals Delta and American Airlines said they have no plans to revise their own pet shipping policies.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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