Woman Claims United Airlines Killed Her Golden Retriever

by McLean Robbins on

A California woman claims that United Airlines killed her 2-year-old Golden Retriever, Bea, on a flight from New York to California two weeks ago.

The accusation appears on her beamakesthree blog, which prominently featured her puppy.

“I’m writing this with my anger aside, in the hopes that someone looking for advice will read this and not make the mistake of trusting United with their pets as we did,” she posted earlier today.

The story is a sad one. A caring dog owner returning from an East Coast summer vacation took all needed precautions to ensure that two of her dogs would travel safely home, driving from Upstate New York to Newark airport to plan a direct flight, enrolling the pets in United’s PetSafe program, buying extra food and crates and special water bowls, and of course, undergoing thorough vet checks.

“When we arrived in San Francisco to pick up our dogs we drove to the dark cargo terminal and on arrival in the hanger were told simply, ‘one of them is dead’ by the emotionless worker who seemed more interested in his text messages,” she wrote.

Maggie described the struggle she had with supervisors to get her dog to a preferred vet for autopsy (called necropsy in animals) and the resulting cause of death was heatstroke.

United, she says, has not responded to repeated requests for comment or further explanation as to how her dog could have died in flight, simply stating, “our internal investigation does not show any irregularities, as evidenced by the fact that your companion dog and other animals on board did not suffer the same fate.”

She does not confirm if the airline refunded the $1,800 in expenses they incurred to travel with their pets.

Maggie, we’re so sorry for your loss.

Editor Note: We have reached out to United for comment and have been told that a statement will be issued soon. We will update the post here when an official comment is made.

Update, 4:34 PM ET: United issued the following statement:

We understand that the loss of a beloved pet is difficult and express our condolences to Ms. Rizer and her family for their loss. After careful review, we found there were no mechanical or operational issues with Bea’s flight and also determined she was in a temperature-controlled environment for her entire journey. We would like finalize the review but are unable until we receive a copy of the necropsy.

[Image via beamakesthree]

Airline Mini-Liquor Bottle Theft Ring Busted At JFK Airport

by Laurel Miller on

Holy national security, Batman! A nine-month investigation, known cryptically as “Operation Last Call,” has resulted in the arrest of 18 JFK Airport employees, including three security guards, according to CNN.

The employees were apprehended Wednesday, after being accused of stealing “more than 100,000 mini-bottles of alcohol from LSG Sky chefs, which provides food and beverages for American Airlines,” said the CNN report. Most of the accused were LSG employees.

The alcohol was allegedly sold on the underground market (Why is there an underground market for a legal substance? Just asking.) to local retailers, resulting in an estimated retail value of $750,000.

Now you know how to make those frequent flier miles really add up. Just don’t say I told you so.


Woman Pays Ryanair $390 To Print Boarding Passes, CEO Calls Her ‘Stupid’

by Kyle Ellison on

Travelers taking issue with budget airline Ryanair is nothing new. In fact, it now seems to simply be commonplace.

First, there was the Norwegian man who was arrested after complaining that the in-flight sandwich he purchased tasted like rubber. Then, of course, there were the passengers who staged a sit down strike in Belgium after being told they must take a bus 225 miles to their
final destination after being rerouted. The list really does go on from here.

The ire doesn’t stop with the passengers, however, as there was also the Ryanair pilot who was coincidentally transferred to Lithuania after publicly making remarks against the company, a move, which ultimately caused the veteran pilot to quit. Recently, there has even been talk of Ryanair making customers pay to use the lavatory.

As usual, this can all be traced back to Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary who also wants to do away with co-pilots and has suggested that long-haul flights offer free oral sex.

Oftentimes, such stunts are attributed to extreme marketing moves meant to gather attention, and it has seemed that recently Ryanair has backed off a bit from their ludicrous outcries.

Or, maybe not.

According to a recent Time Business article, when a passenger traveling from Alicante, Spain, back home to England complained of Ryanair charging her a fee of €60/person to print boarding passes for her family of five (a total of $390), Time reports that O’Leary branded the woman as “stupid” and called the rest of Ryanair passengers “idiots.”While this definitely seems extreme, it’s not exactly a new policy; it’s well known by many European budget travelers that you must print your boarding pass prior to arriving at the airport lest Ryanair levy a hefty fee.

When the woman complained on her Facebook page (and subsequently received over half a million ‘likes’ from those agreeing with her), O’Leary is reported by the article to have responded by saying:

“We think Mrs McLeod should pay 60 euros for being so stupid,”…”She wasn’t able to print her boarding card because, as you know, there are no internet cafes in Alicante, no hotels where they could print them out for you, and you couldn’t get to a fax machine so some friend at home can print them and fax them to you… She wrote to me last week asking for compensation and a gesture of goodwill. To which we have replied, politely but firmly, thank you Mrs McLeod but it was your ****-up.”


What do you think? Does CEO O’Leary have justifiable reason to be angry, is he at it again with his old marketing stunts, or is the woman completely in the right for being so upset over the hefty charge?

[Image courtesy of aromano on Flickr]

United Cares About [Insert Customer Name]

by Jessica Festa on




We don’t know whether to shake our heads in disappointment or fall off our chairs laughing about this letter “giantreesemar” from Flyertalk posted. Evidently, the flier sent a letter of complaint to United Airlines, and received this incomplete form in return.

The background story, according to giantreesmar, is he had set up a fairly complicated award itinerary, with United promising to hold it for three days. The traveler then made another change with a separate agent, who didn’t mention the hold time. Looking it up online, the traveler saw it would be held until midnight. At 5 p.m., however, giantreesmar checked on the reservation and found all of the segments deleted. Straightening everything took another hour on the phone and added frustration.

Apparently the situation was eventually resolved, and United tried to send a letter of apology. But it looks like they forgot a few key components.

Reached for comment, United spokesman Charles Hobart acknowledged the error:

“We mistakenly sent the customer an unfinished response letter. We’ve reached out to the customer to apologize for the inconvenience and address the customer’s concerns.”

Giantreesmar, didn’t seem too worried, quipping online, “I will really enjoy my (SPECIFIC ITEM).”

In fact, he later followed up on the thread with an update:

Just got a call from United HQ and spoke to a nice woman who was very apologetic and noted that it is indeed “embarrassing.” I was laughing, and really do hope I didn’t get anyone in too much trouble because I’ve made mistakes like this myself and would be terrifically mortified if someone posted it on flyertalk

Either way, she noted that this was supposed to be the letter that accompanies some form of compensation for my prior complaint email, not necessarily the only thing I’d receive on the matter (as I noted earlier, I did get an email in about 4 days that was sort of standard boilerplate apology, but my complaint didn’t really call for a specific action other than fixing their site). Somehow the letter went from generating the template to sending before the agent got to fill in the blanks. Whoops.

Either way, she did say that SPECIFIC ITEM is on the way (although I didn’t ask what it was). I think this whole thing is more funny than frustrating, so the suspense will have to dog me a bit longer!

Also to her credit, she did listen to me explain my issue with the bug on their site (she referred to them as the dot com department) that mis-displays how long reservations are “held” until. We’ll see if it actually gets fixed now!

We’re glad everything got straightened out in good spirits.

[Via One Mile At A Time]

Maui’s Hana Airport Open To Commuters Again

by Kyle Ellison on

Stretching for 52 miles, across 59 bridges, and around 620 curves, Maui’s famous and historic “Road To Hana” is not for the weak of stomach. Despite being listed on The National Register of Historic Places and as one of the Top 10 Scenic Drives in America by Lonely Planet, for many Maui visitors, the thought of enduring the switchbacking, nearly three-hour drive is simply too much too handle.

In a nutshell, they would rather pass up seeing the entire east end of the island than get behind a wheel on that road.

Luckily for all would-be Hana travelers out there, Mokulele Airlines and the Travaasa Hana hotel have recently partnered to bring back twice-daily service from Maui’s Kahului airport to Hana’s coastal airstrip beginning on October 1. Along the 20-minute flight passengers of the nine-seat Cessna will be privy to waterfall views and the lush rainforest, which blankets the eastern swath of the island.

With fares starting at $59 each way it’s definitely a pricier option than fueling up the rental car and tackling the hundreds of turns. As part of the partnership, however, guests who opt to book a three-night all inclusive stay at the hotel will be given the tickets for free, a nice perk of spending three days in a town regarded as one of the most beautiful and relaxing of anywhere in the entire Hawaiian island chain.

While the flight option dramatically reduces the commute time for Hana travelers, given the notorious tradewinds on the island’s eastern flank, I can only assume it’s still going to be a bumpy – yet beautiful – flight.