International Rescue Travel for dogs need help with UA contact
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 4
International Rescue Travel for dogs need help with UA contact
I could certainly use any assistance possible to identify a United Airlines decision maker who has the ability and authority to grant an exception to the current pet travel policy for dogs rescued from the meat trade in S Korea. To date we have flown 45 goldens from Korean meat farms to their new lives in SW FL. In May however United decided to restrict crate height to 30 inches thus eliminating our ability to continue to be of assistance. Following and unanswered letter to United's CEO, I have exchanged emails with "Corporate Customer Care" but they have politely said .. Thank You for contacting us. We appreciate hearing from our customers. Any help to make the appropriate connection would be greatly appreciated
#2
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 241
I could certainly use any assistance possible to identify a United Airlines decision maker who has the ability and authority to grant an exception to the current pet travel policy for dogs rescued from the meat trade in S Korea. To date we have flown 45 goldens from Korean meat farms to their new lives in SW FL. In May however United decided to restrict crate height to 30 inches thus eliminating our ability to continue to be of assistance. Following and unanswered letter to United's CEO, I have exchanged emails with "Corporate Customer Care" but they have politely said .. Thank You for contacting us. We appreciate hearing from our customers. Any help to make the appropriate connection would be greatly appreciated
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 4
Thank you Cruiser for your reply. The restrictions were placed as a result of human error and/or system failures and had no connection to crate height. Shortly after implementing the changes United realized certain unintended consequences. Thankfully they had to make exceptions for military families traveling between duty stations. This confirmed the fact that the new policy was a business decision not one based on the care and concern of canine travel as professed. Animals can still travel on a United flights with a few breed exceptions. Limiting the size of the crate makes no sense. The plane certainly did not get smaller all of a sudden.
#4
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 812
This is a thread for UA Insider.
Also, have you tried Tweeting United? Going to the media? (The news love this sort of stuff!) Contacting UA's board members? Any of those may be more effective than posting here.
And don't forget to see if anyone associated with your non-profit has influence. If someone on the board of your non-profit has a day job that involves managing travel for a Fortune 500 Company, for example, that's a great avenue to apply pressure.
Also, have you tried Tweeting United? Going to the media? (The news love this sort of stuff!) Contacting UA's board members? Any of those may be more effective than posting here.
And don't forget to see if anyone associated with your non-profit has influence. If someone on the board of your non-profit has a day job that involves managing travel for a Fortune 500 Company, for example, that's a great avenue to apply pressure.
#5
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UA took the hit for the dogs that died and got a lot of positive media for its new policy along with the recognition that it is not accepting animals which don't meet its parameters.
The same people here who advise going after UA publicly would then go after UA publicly if the dogs died.
As others note, UA has granted a few exemptions for military families and takes special precautions. That is likely as far as UA goes and, while the situation is unfortunate, kudos to UA for not taking on what it is not ready to handle.
The same people here who advise going after UA publicly would then go after UA publicly if the dogs died.
As others note, UA has granted a few exemptions for military families and takes special precautions. That is likely as far as UA goes and, while the situation is unfortunate, kudos to UA for not taking on what it is not ready to handle.
#6
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#7
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Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 4
Thank you for taking the time to reply. All of your ideas are great suggestions. We have begun to reach out to both local and national media. I had not thought about the Fortune 500 avenue but one Korean pup adopter has significant national media connections. A number of our fosters and adopters have begun to connect to United through Twitter. All I am asking in my attempts to contact United is to be given the opportunity to communicate directly via text, email or phone with a decision maker. Thank you again for your time
Thank you Often1 for your time although I have to respectfully disagree. The fact that a small pup died in the overhead compartment is nothing short of tragic. When United's team managed to send a German Shepard to Japan instead of Denver is clearly an example of both human and system failure. I applaud United for calling a 2 month timeout to revisit their pet travel procedures. The new policy however still allows animals who fit in a crate smaller than 30 inches in height to fly the same as before. The height restriction seems to be a random perimeter that has no connection to pet safety. The effect of such a restriction does not provide a safer flight. Instead it simply excludes certain types and breeds of dogs from traveling on United.
UA took the hit for the dogs that died and got a lot of positive media for its new policy along with the recognition that it is not accepting animals which don't meet its parameters.
The same people here who advise going after UA publicly would then go after UA publicly if the dogs died.
As others note, UA has granted a few exemptions for military families and takes special precautions. That is likely as far as UA goes and, while the situation is unfortunate, kudos to UA for not taking on what it is not ready to handle.
The same people here who advise going after UA publicly would then go after UA publicly if the dogs died.
As others note, UA has granted a few exemptions for military families and takes special precautions. That is likely as far as UA goes and, while the situation is unfortunate, kudos to UA for not taking on what it is not ready to handle.
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jul 12, 2018 at 12:39 am Reason: merging consecutive posts by same member
#10
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#12
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IMO air-freighting dogs one at a time out of industrial-scale farming is similarly ineffective at changing the situation.
#13
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I applaud your cause and work you're doing to get these doggies home. But I don't think you'll have a lot of luck with United. Unfortunately as others have said, they haven't been in the good press for transportation of dogs lately and there's just way too much liability involved here.
As others have said, and I'm not saying its your case, this is the sort of thing that comes back later as massive PR issue *if* a dog unfortunately dies on board their flights.
I personally would have no sympathy of you taking this to the press and trying to put United in a tight corner because they're following their policies. No should mean no.
I suggest you try other airlines or cargo companies.
As others have said, and I'm not saying its your case, this is the sort of thing that comes back later as massive PR issue *if* a dog unfortunately dies on board their flights.
I personally would have no sympathy of you taking this to the press and trying to put United in a tight corner because they're following their policies. No should mean no.
I suggest you try other airlines or cargo companies.
#14
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Isn't there a special horse air transport company?
#15
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