Not entirely sure what the FT community will think, but there are a few reasons why this scenario was so upsetting for both my mom and sister. First – sister was flying home from South Korea, where her husband is in the US Army. Last few months and weeks have been stressful for my sister with the birth of her newborn, and the uncertainty of North Korea, etc. My sister and mom do not travel a lot. Sister has probably flown less than 20 round trips in her life, and this time she was flying ˝ way around the world with a baby, dog, stroller and three bags.

My mom travels frequently, but almost always with my dad, and almost exclusively on Southwest. Flying stresses her out, and she’s been super anxious to see her daughter and grand-daughter. I’m not a parent myself, but suffice to say, this was an emotional trip for both before it even started. For most of us on FT, when we find out that there has been a change to our travel schedule, we usually go into “flight-mode” and immediately know who to call or where to go and what our options are given the circumstances. My mom would fall into the completely opposite category.

When they found out they had to deplane they were scared, and very confused. Once they realized that they dog was still in its crate they became angry at United and upset for the animal. All of these different things are what made this relatively small irrop such a fiasco.

However, almost all of the people at United seemed to fully grasp what was going on, and acted with compassion, a sense of urgency, and a lot of dignity. When my mom finally got home she just cried, thanked me for helping her out and once again thanked the three employees at United that helped make the best of a not so great situation.