Cats and dogs can carry rabies, probably have greater success of getting out of their carriers, and by their size, pose more danger than a turtle the size of your thumb. The AirTran spokesperson is the one citing salmonella after the fact. It wasn't the FA who insisted the turtle couldn't be on the flight. No matter what the policy, their reaction to the situation makes AirTran look stooopid and needlessly cruel.

Umm...AirTran offered to let the sisters wait for their father to get back to ATL, hand off the turtle and then take a later flight...how does that make them look "stoooopid and needlessly cruel"? It was the oldest sister who decided to throw the turtle in the trash can and continue about their travels instead of waiting to ensure the turtle was given to their father and then take a later flight.

They are kids, trying to deal with adults. Adults who do not care about them or care for them. How well do you think teenagers, and younger, rationalize? How about the adults in this situation? It didn't sound like AirTran explained the options fully. Nor did AirTran make much effort to find a solution. The girls didn't know enough to ask questions that would help them in this situation. AirTran people acted like robots that cannot think for themselves but can only follow certain procedures. That two FAs on the same flight can't even agree shows me that in this situation they were stooopid and needlessly cruel. Cruel to the turtle: exceptions can be made to allow it on the flight (as the first FA apparently did), the "care" required by the turtle could simply have been placement in a staff room until the father was able to get back to the airport and retrieve it - how much "care" does the turtle actually need that they couldn't find some AirTran employee who could help? Cruelty to the girls in not making a effort to explain the situation and find a solution to help, we're talking Children, here. If cargo was an option, which it clearly was, since that's how the turtle got returned to the girl, why not place it in cargo on that flight or have offered to do it for the next flight. As for stooopid, inflicting needless cruelty and not being compassionate adults, these actions make the airline look stupid in the eyes of many in the public. Stupid, also, that the employees couldn't think of a solution to avoid the embarrassment of the public scrutiny and bad press this has now generated.

22 is certainly an adult (in age if not in wisdom or maturity, it would appear)

My bad, I didn't read the story that was linked here, I read it on-line elsewhere and stumbled on this thread. The other posted story listed the girls in age order with Annie, 13; Rebecca, 12; Carley, 10. Even with a 22yo in the family, the airline employees still probably have a bit more experience than the girls do with travel.

Even with rules, people can and do make exceptions. This wasn't going to be "Snakes On A Plane" after all.

I was allowed to check a bag that was 25kg when the weight limit is 23kg. The TA warned me, but nothing more. (Odd though that the bag was weighed at the hotel as 22kg before I left for the airport. I only purchased a bottle of water and it was in my hand.)

This one I dont get.

People travel with animals all the time. I have even seen a few birds go through the WTMD, no cage. Dogs fly in the passenger compartment all the time, so whats the big deal about a 2 inch turttle in a cage?

Maybe it was the .45 he was packing?

$8 dollars, is that what a box of cracker jacks cost now?

tiny turtle? isn't there a song about that?

Hold me closer tiny turtle
Count the headlights on the runway
Lay me down in cans of trash
you had a busy day today

Hmmm, I actually read the story, did you?

From the story:
(emphasis mine)

Air crew, not TSA. DOH!

You really should read. TSA did not do this.

ValueJet

I have to agree-- common sense 'aint so common nowadays.

What the poster to whom you are responding is accurate-- just not applicable to this story . . .

no, but there are probably, as we speak, a tribe of them trying to work out how it got past them, how they did not think of doing this first, and how they can change (make up) procedures to ensure it does not get past them ever again...

This is a mind-numbing breakdown of common sense.

First off, a turtle that tiny does not pose any danger to anyone on the plane - I could understand a FA being concerned about a large turtle, since they can bite and if another passenger's baby stuck their finger in the cage, it could result in a serious injury. But to have a plane that's already taxiing return to the gate over a turtle that tiny is just ridiculous.

And no, I'm not buying the "salmonella" argument - yes, theoretically the turtle can carry salmonella. But can so humans. And as long as the turtle remained in its cage and no one handled it, the salmonella danger to other passengers would be pretty much zero - they'd have more risk from employees at the airport's eateries not washing their hands after handling uncooked chicken.

Honestly, if I was a passenger on this flight and found out that my flight was delayed because a FA threw a hissy-fit over a turtle half the size of my iPhone, and the captain actually went along with it, I'd be firing off a nastygram to AirTran HQ.

However...technically, the crew was correct, the turtle was not on the list of approved cabin animals. Foolish, but theoretically correct. Okay, go back to the gate.

But now it gets worse.

The plan returns to the gate, the girls ask AirTran staff to hold the turtle so their dad can come get it, but the AirTran staff says "no, there's no one to watch it."

Why do people get turtles as pets? One big reason is...wait for it...turtles are very low maintenance! As long as the cage was the right size and the turtle couldn't get out, the cage could simply be carried out to the check-in counter and set to the side for a few hours until the dad got there. No "care" required, turtle's happy.

Instead, the girls - who are probably already on the receiving end of Stares of Death from other passengers whose flight has now been delayed - get told they can either wait for another flight, or ditch the turtle. (That was apparently technically suggested first by one of the girls, but it was certainly implied already.) So the girls reluctantly throw the turtle away, if for no other reason than they want to get home and don't want Mom to have to wait at the airport for a later flight.

Next a nice AirTran employee rescues the little guy and gives him to another employee to take home to his kid. (Only AirTran employee with any common sense in the story.) Father gets to the airport - no turtle in the trash.

Now we get to the part of the story that's missing: how did the airline conveniently "discover" the turtle had been rescued from the garbage? I picture a PR flack in Atlanta either (a) seeing an early version of this story with the turtle presumably smushed in a trash compactor, or (b) hearing about it internally in some way, going "Holy crap! We look like absolute morons here!!!" and launching the Search for Neytiri. AirTran then "ships the turtle as cargo" back to the little girl in a last-ditch effort to limit the PR damage.

And the airline industry wonders why it's held in such low regard by the American people...

Actually, if the girls had any knowledge of airline procedure, they would have just claimed Neytiri was a "Emotional Support Turtle" and told the FA to live with it. :-)

Actually, since I believe the power to determine what animals are or are not allowed in the cabin lies with the airline, I'd imagine TSA is sitting back and going "nope, not our problem." And, for once, they'd be right.

sadly, this forum lacks a specific sarcasm font...