United Airlines ought to be quite accustomed to controversy given that its credibility has actually taken multiple hits of late. When a traveler on a grounded airplane tweeted a picture from her rain-covered window, another such blow landed. The image instantly went viral on social networks, landing the airline company at the center of a PR firestorm.
When something outside her window captured her eye, Barbara Galletly Passmore was seated on a United Airlines airplane at the Bush International Airport. After discovering what was left on the tarmac in the cold, putting rain for over a half-hour, Barbara took out her phone. In the image, she published to her Twitter account, there is a cage holding a dog sitting exposed to the elements.
“Evil United Airlines leaves dog on rainy cold runway for more than half an hour despite alerts to staff,” the angry tweet from Barbara read, accompanying the image of the pet dog kennel sitting outdoors. Obviously, the post instantly started getting a lot of attention.
“We were delayed leaving the gate about an hour, which is at least how long the dog was out there,” Barbara told ABC13, adding that she pressed the assistance button and a flight attendant responded. “He told me he’d ‘let them know,'” she recalled. “When after about 10 more minutes there was no attention to the dog (visible from my seat, at least), I tweeted my photo and shared it on Facebook.”
An agent from United Airlines was fast to react to the criticism on Twitter, the business stopped working to take duty for the pet dog being left in the rain, passing the blame off to PetSafe. “Thanks for telling us. The weather can change & may have been clear when PetSafe dropped off. They’re the ones to call too,” United Airlines tweeted to Barbara in response to the photo.
Unsurprisingly, the Twitterverse emerged, letting the airline company have it, particularly for stopping working to take duty. “Major fail, United! Passing the buck instead of expressing concern and regret,” Twitter user “Sister Celluloid” fired back.
With the image rapidly gathering more than 1,500 retweets on Twitter, the reaction was intense with lots of requiring an apology from United Airlines and some appealing to boycott over the obvious absence of issue for the animal. “I will never fly United again. Thanks for exposing their shitty treatment of our beloved pets,” Twitter user “sia” tweeted, as another social media user sarcastically added, “Is United Airlines going out of business?? Seems they will be soon at this rate and given their incompetence.”
“GUESS WHAT? I WILL NEVER FLY WITH YOU AGAIN AND I HOPE PEOPLE FLYING WITH THEIR PETS DON’T EITHER #StopAnimalAbuse,” Gigi & James Garner angrily posted to the airline as Twitter users “Katie” and “Seth” both declared they won’t be flying United anymore after the incident. “This is an intentional act that screams negligence. I have always flown United but will now do all I can to avoid your airline,” Katie wrote, while Seth added, he’s “never flying United again. Ever.”
A representative for the airline company has given that stated that the circumstance was a fantastic misconception, once again indicating PetSafe, a devoted program for boarding animals onto airplanes. “We checked several cameras and confirmed the pet was fully under the watchful eye of our ramp employees after our PetSafe employees dropped the kennel off when we were ready to begin loading the aircraft for departure,” the statement from United Airlines claims.
“As is our standard practice, employees placed the pet kennel completely under the wing to protect the pet from the falling rain. Ramp workers then placed the kennel onto the aircraft after loading baggage so that the kennel could be retrieved first when the flight arrived,” the statement concluded, with United Airlines telling ABC13 that the kennel was dry, the animal was not in the rain, and the dog ultimately made it to its destination safely.
Barbara stated, “It was definitely not under the wing,” including that it was not her intent to prompt a news story but to assist that specific pet, who she thinks was damp and cold. Barbara stated, “I don’t think my posting the image made a difference to the dog, but perhaps future dogs will receive better treatment from airlines as a result of this public outcry.”
Regretfully, this is not the very first encounter United Airlines has actually had concerning family pets on aircrafts, and the list is long. Triggering criticism on social media and pressing the airline company to clarify and additional limit its family pet policy, they turned away a psychological assistance peacock from boarding a flight at Newark Liberty International Airport. Even worse, Fortune reports that “a passenger flying from Houston to New York was told to move her dog, which was in its carrier, from under her seat to an overhead bin. The dog then died in-flight.”
It appears all the criticism hasn’t sufficed for this airline company to make sure the security of family pets taking a trip with them. In order to keep animals safe, we need to inform animal owners who might be taking their cherished buddies with them on a flight. Make certain you understand your picked airline company’s family pet policies if you are taking your animal with you, and ensure they are comprehensive and sufficient to guarantee your family pet’s security.
H/T Taphaps
