United Airlines flies family's pet dog to Japan by mistake

Airline says it 'will arrange to return the pets to them as soon as possible'

Chelsea Ritschel
in New York
Wednesday 14 March 2018 21:14 GMT
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United Airlines sent German Shepherd Irgo to Japan instead of Kansas
United Airlines sent German Shepherd Irgo to Japan instead of Kansas

Coming just one day after a United Airlines flight attendant allegedly told a passenger to stow their dog in the overhead bin - leading to its death - another canine-related incident has occurred on the airline.

The company is now investigating why and how a family’s dog that was meant to fly to Kansas ended up on a plane to Japan instead.

According to KCTV, Kara Swindle and her two children flew from Oregon to Kansas City, Missouri on March 13.

The family, who was moving to Wichita, paid to have their dog Irgo shipped as cargo.

But when the family arrived at the Kansas City cargo facility to pick up their German Shepherd, they were presented with the wrong dog.

According to KCTV, instead of the family’s 10-year-old German Shepherd, Irgo, they were given a Great Dane.

After questioning where their dog had gone, the airline admitted that they were not sure - and had to wait for a Japan-bound flight to land before they could confirm that Irgo was in Japan.

The family has since found out the airline accidentally sent Irgo to Japan instead of the Great Dane.

Airline officials have reportedly corrected the mistake and placed Irgo on a flight back to Kansas City - but it is currently unknown when he will arrive.

A spokesperson for the airline said the mix-up occurred during a connection in Denver.

"An error occurred during connections in Denver for two pets sent to the wrong destinations,” the statement said. "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 apologise for this mistake and are following up with the vendor kennel where they were kept overnight to understand what happened," United said.

According to tracking by the Department of Transportation, which tracks animal-related incidents during travel, there was only one recorded incident of a misplaced animal in 2017. The incident occurred on an Alaska Airlines flight - but the animal was later delivered to its owner.

However, 24 animal-related deaths were recorded in 2017 - with three-quarters of those deaths occurring on United Airlines flights, according to the Chicago Tribune.

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