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PetSafe shows United Airlines’ dedication to safe relocation, and grounding all animal flights would be a mistake
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As a veterinarian involved in pet relocation supervision, I have been worried to hear some of the stories about United Airlines lately, such as the recent incident where a flight attendant insisted on placing a French bulldog into an overhead storage locker, and others such as flying pets to wrong destinations.
In response, United have now banned all new animal bookings, effective immediately until a full review of their live animal programme (PetSafe) has been completed. That is, if they decide to continue carrying animals.
United shipped over 138,000 animals last year and there are many successful happy reunion cases across the world. With around 88,000 employees, it’s clearly been hard to educate and induce a culture of “pet safety above all else” in one or two of these employees. It’s understandable that they wish to stop and review their systems to consider what went wrong.
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However, there are some positive things about United Airlines which must not be forgotten.
They do have their own scheme – the “PetSafe” programme – which has dedicated staff focusing on how to manage pet movements.
Pet relocation: what Hongkongers need to know about flights, health checks and more, plus six dos and don’ts
They have 90 custom-designed, climate-controlled vehicles in US terminals to safely transport pets in all weather conditions.
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