Have to think that’s not going to end well for United, but I guess it depends on the contract signed for said Rabbit.
Are similar policies in place for fragile items that aren’t living animals? For example, if United was still only smashing guitars (how quaint), could I get the smashed guitar back, or would they smash it even further and throw it in some dumpster somewhere?
Having travelled a stupid amount and had a few things smashed by airlines (and by hotel cleaning staff!), I can tell you that they’ll give you back your stuff and tell you to make a claim, unless they can’t (i.e., it’s lost). I’m guessing organics are a different story though.
(Supposedly) true story: A good friend of mine used to work for BearSkin Airlines (yes, Canada. Of course Canada) as ground staff. At one point, he was working on the tarmac and heard a call “Um, gate X to flight Y, there’s about a 90 percent chance you have a dog loose in the hold…”
Turns out the loader, while loading up the flight which was carrying some massive dog had noticed the dog’s cage had been bumped ajar, and the dog was pissed. He quickly scrambled out of the hold and locked it behind him, then waited until the flight was on the taxiway before saying anything because then they’d have to deal with it at the destination (he wasn’t going back in there!).
Apparently, at the other end, they discovered that the Dog had shredded a bunch of people’s luggage during the flight, and someone on the other side snapped some pics to share of the carnage. They gave these mangled bags back to customers, despite several of them having nearly every garment chewed and destroyed. 
2 Likes
The same should be true of animals too.
I think an autopsy could have been important, and regardless, it’s up to the pet owners to decide how to dispose of their pet.
1 Like
Absolutely agree. If the airlines can deal with human deaths during flight and transporting human remains, they can surely do the same for animals. Imagine if a human passed away during a flight and they cremated them before returning the remains to a family!
4 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
