Troopers

I suspect the mother had her diaper bag under the seat. Both diaper bag and dog wouldn't fit under seat.

GadgetFreak

mduell

Was the dog a service animal or ESA? I didn't think UA allowed pets in the cabin anymore, they all had to go as cargo.

Marylou

comfortablynumb

One newsfeed I got said the dog carrier was sticking out in the aisle so the FA asked the passenger to put it in the overhead bin.

Did the passenger even tell the FA there was a dog in this carrier ? FA can be abrupt during boarding "ma'am this bag will have to go overhead, it cannot stick out in the aisle" then turning quickly to move on down the aisle to do whatever needs to be done next, without a 2nd thought.

Are those big dogs ? (Guess it depends on the age) Would it be a struggle to lift and put into an overhead bin while maintaining control of a lap child ? Dogs move around too....legs, head, body....while being hoisted overhead.

msg75

I stand by my previous claim: if I see an animal being mistreated or put in harms way on an aircraft I WILL speak up to the point of causing a scene if necessary (I don't believe it would ever get that far). Delay the flight, call the GA, supervisor, pilot, TSA, police...I don't care. If anyone is afraid of the consequences standing up for an animal being put in danger they haven't been paying attention to how PR/social media works these days. I guarantee there would be no permanent negative consequences from this course of action.

Fredd

Small enough to fit in an overhead without the carrier.

mozilla

Exhaustion, rush (winter weather forecasted for NYC) or other factors could have contributed to a misunderstanding between the pax and the FA. Humans are fallible and misunderstandings happen all the time, also on board of aircraft.

One of the reasons why flying is the safest form of travel (well, for humans) is because we make strong use of automatization and procedures to eliminate many of the human fallacies from the flight deck. When things go sideways it's usually because of poor human judgment or mistakes, either due to external factors or due to humans being humans (or both).

Long Zhiren

Another story link:
https://nypost.com/2018/03/13/dog-di...-overhead-bin/
Seems kind of hard to get all of the story details in any single link.
737-900? hm. I was just thinking that UA's 777-300 ER's have a lousy set-up in seats E & F in economy. When the seat supports are consistent for three seats across, and you jam four seats across there, the middle two seats have seat supports in the underseat areas making it difficult if not impossible to store any kind of bag there. Other underseat storage has become difficult with power boxes, etc. But the bad situation has gone worse.

Kind of surprised there was even space in the overhead...

23BC tells me that these passengers were not frequent fliers, and lacking the gut instincts of frequent fliers, and lacking being surrounded by other frequent fliers. UA customer service is deplorable once again. As a Premier Platinum, sometimes I just check-in at the non-premier lines. UA customer service in non-premier areas repeatedly wows me with their impatience and incompetence. Advice to other premiers--try the cattle line occasionally to see how bad customer service gets.

laxmillenial

But they did. They had a back/forth with the FA stating there was a dog in the carrier. It's not over the top, it's the truth. Take the most recent event that comes to mind. On a recent Delta flight, a passenger says "Thank you Tabitha (name of FA), you may not have a job tomorrow". And guess what, she was kicked right off that flight. Despite apologies, despite numerous apologies to the FA, begging, etc. What scene did this woman cause? What physical alteration did she do? She said one sentence, didn't even raise her voice, which I would classify as a 'calm conversation'.

I'm not saying she was right/wrong to be kicked off the flight, I'm merely saying if you don't listen to the FA's, you're off or worse. They have that power. And if you're someone who just wants to get home, why risk it and 'argue' after they told you twice/three times or more to do something.

You can't say this isn't happening.

WorldLux

There were two passengers travelling with two seats. Provided that both items physically fit underneath the seat, there should've been enough place for both.

If I start the engine in a closed garage that's connected to the rest of the house, I will eventually die even though the garage is not airtight while people in the rest of the house will be fine. A dog in an overhead locker will eventually use up all the oxygen available and there's not enough air circulation to provide fresh air. Of course, there may be other reason why the dog died (some have been mentioned already) but that doesn't change the fact that animals don't belong up there.

If the case was too big to fit underneath the seat, then the F/A should've deplaned the family citing the need to insure everyone's safety. The family may have been angry about it but the dog would've been alive. If the case fitted underneath the seat, then I frankly don't see any reason why the F/A did what the F/A did.

guv1976

You're mistaken. Not only does UA permit pets (in carriers) to ride in the passenger cabin, but it's a source of revenue for UA. See the link in Post #10 .

Xyzzy

Why has nobody asked about the passengers here? First, when the FA tells you to do something idiotic like putting the dog in the overhead doesn't a concerned owner complain vs. just complying? Next, iif you can somehow get past the part where the FA tells you to put the dog in the overhead do you then NT check on it for the whole flight? This whole thing sounds totally unbelievable.

Troopers

If you assume that mom and daughter didn't have any other personal items under the seats, which is unreasonable IMO.

guv1976

Totally unbelievable? Suggest you read the statement of the (apparently disinterested) witness seated in the row behind. The statement is contained in the One Mile At A Time article linked in Post #6 .