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Dog dies on IAH-LGA after FA supposedly insisted pax store dog overhead

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Dog dies on IAH-LGA after FA supposedly insisted pax store dog overhead

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Old Mar 13, 2018, 11:56 am
  #16  
 
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Have you seen the brute force pax use to cram their belongings up there, let alone the obvious suffocation risk? To treat a dog like cargo ought to be a crime.
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Old Mar 13, 2018, 12:00 pm
  #17  
 
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How does something like this even happen nowadays? The owner should have never relented, animals can travel in the cabin in certain circumstances and to have a FA do this......... assuming they knew, is really just lack of social norms, much less policies.
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Old Mar 13, 2018, 12:02 pm
  #18  
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UA's own policy requires that live animals in carrier bags be placed underneath the seat in front of the passenger. Period.

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con.../in_cabin.aspx
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Old Mar 13, 2018, 12:03 pm
  #19  
 
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Originally Posted by schley
The owner should have never relented,
Unfortunately, the public has been conditioned and intimidated never to argue with a crew member's instructions.
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Old Mar 13, 2018, 12:05 pm
  #20  
 
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Originally Posted by JetAway
Unfortunately, the public has been conditioned and intimidated never to argue with a crew member's instructions.
Well in recent incidents like Dao I think people are more emboldened and should be, although not in this case.

What is next put the lapchild overhead in the bin with the pillows?
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Old Mar 13, 2018, 12:17 pm
  #21  
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Based on past experience, I don't entirely believe the story we've heard from any "side" so far.

Originally Posted by mherdeg
Perhaps UA should publish a list of things which FAs may ask you to do which you must comply with under federal law and another list of crewmember instructions which you must ignore under federal law?
Why? The FAA has already published the first list.
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Old Mar 13, 2018, 12:22 pm
  #22  
 
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There has to be more to this story.

Even if the FA did insist on the bag being put in the overhead, why did the passengers leave it there, unchecked, for over 3 hours?

Relenting on takeoff is one thing, but then simply leaving the dog up there for almost 4 hours during the flight just doesn't make sense...

Last edited by docbert; Mar 13, 2018 at 12:33 pm Reason: Updated flight time
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Old Mar 13, 2018, 12:23 pm
  #23  
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If the dog + carrier fit under the seat in front, that is the only place it should have gone. If it did not fit, the dog should have been offloaded, presumably with the passenger. Both the FA and the GA seeing the passenger with a lap child + dog ought to have made certain that what the passenger proposed to do was workable. Presumably, if the dog did fit, it would not permit any baby supplies other than in the OH. On the other hand, baby supplies don't suffocate and if one needs them, it may be a hassle, but they can more likely be retrieved.
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Old Mar 13, 2018, 12:27 pm
  #24  
 
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Originally Posted by Often1
Both the FA and the GA seeing the passenger with a lap child + dog ought to have made certain that what the passenger proposed to do was workable.
There were 2 passengers (the other being the ladies daughter), the baby and the dog. Fitting should not have been a problem.
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Old Mar 13, 2018, 12:29 pm
  #25  
 
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Originally Posted by Aussienarelle
Sorry for the loss of the pet. The pax had a lap child and a pet with her? I am trying to understand how the pax was going to store necessary items for the infant under the seat in front of her and the pet under the seat in front of her. The logistics make my mind hurt.
The pax was also traveling with a teenaged daughter, so I'm guessing the plan was to put dog under one seat and baby stuff under the other?


While the FA clearly bears the majority of the responsibility here, the pax should take a bit of it for failing to check on the dog at any point during the flight. While the dog shouldn't have been in there in the first place, it could have been out of there right after takeoff.
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Old Mar 13, 2018, 12:30 pm
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by docbert
Even if the FA did insist on the bag being put in the overhead, why did the passengers leave it there, unchecked, for 3 hours?
This is the part that I don't understand.
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Old Mar 13, 2018, 12:34 pm
  #27  
 
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If the passenger refuse to put the dog up the overhead compartment, would United drag the passenger off the plane?
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Old Mar 13, 2018, 12:35 pm
  #28  
 
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I'm amazed that not a single person witnessing this situation spoke up and confronted the crew.

I'm not a hero but if I saw an animal being placed in the overhead, under any circumstances, I would have stood up and made a scene...call for the purser, the pilot, the GA, whoever, but no way would I be able to live with myself if I didn't intervene.

Also did no one check on the animal for the entire flight? Not once?
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Old Mar 13, 2018, 12:35 pm
  #29  
 
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Originally Posted by mherdeg
Pax also had a lap infant.
Sorry but who in their right mind would travel with a carry-on pet AND a lap infant, even if another child was also traveling who had a seat. If they would have paid the fee to check the dog or paid to put the dog in a kennel near home, this could have been prevented. How they managed to carry all that on the airplane is beyond me .... much less what happened after they boarded.

Was the FA stupid -- yes. But, let's look at the root cause -- passenger was not thinking logically. Any pet loving passenger would have raised a big stink if they were told to put their pet in the overhead.
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Old Mar 13, 2018, 12:38 pm
  #30  
 
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Originally Posted by pushmyredbutton
This is the part that I don't understand.
How long was the seatbelt sign turned off on that specific flight?

If we already are assuming that the passenger wouldn't stand up to the FA and not allow the dog in the overhead bin, it's reasonable to assume that the passenger also would not disobey the seatbelt sign. If the sign was on for most if not all of the flight, there may have been little or no opportunity to check on the dog/open the bin without disobeying the signs and/or crew member instructions.
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