The first article I saw popping up today on my news feed app was a story about a dog dying on a United Airline's flight. The dog was a French bulldog named Kokito. Kokito was under the supervision of his eleven year old owner (who got the dog for her birthday), the girl's baby sibling, and the girl's mother. They were flying from Houston to New York on Monday after visiting the girl's dad. Apparently, before the flight took off, a flight attendant told the girl and her mother that the bag was blocking the path and they had to put the bag up in the overhead locker. The girl said "it's a dog, it's a dog" and apparently some other passengers said too that there was a dog in the bag but the flight attendant wouldn't listen and insisted that the bag (with the dog) had to be placed in the overhead locker. In the end they complied, the dog barked for two hours or something, went quiet, and after the three hour flight they found him dead (no surprise there).
Of course everyone is blaming United Airline's for the death of the dog, or at least, every article that I read on the internet covering this "tragic accident" (as United Airline's called it) is blaming United Airline's, but I don't think United Airline's is the only one to blame. I just think the dog owners weren't being responsible at all on top of the fact that the entire story makes no sense to me.
The first thing that makes no sense to me is that if the flight attendant really had known there was a living and breathing being in the bag would she really have demanded it being in the locker? How could this flight attendant have been so careless and not have known there was a dog in the bag? According to many reportings the dog was being carried in a TSA approved bag so how didn't this flight attendant notice? And once the dog was put there and kept barking, how didn't she hear that? How did no other flight attendants hear it? Why didn't they do anything? If the story that is being reported is true then surely none of these flight attendants are cut out for their job and if United Airline's doesn't fire them they should just quit on their own.
The second thing that makes no sense to me is how the family agreed to put the dog in the overhead locker. Would they have put their baby in the overhead locker? I don't think so. No one was twisting their arm and they could've just left the plane. The dog was also a french bulldog, which is a small breed, and it was only 10 months old. There was no way that the bag they were carrying him in was too big so it could've easily fit under their chair. So why didn't they put up a fight? If you use logic you know that such a young and small dog isn't going to do well in the overhead locker, not even to mention that no living being would do well in an overhead locker. If they cared so much about the dog they should've applied that logic and just have left the plane if the flight attendant kept on insisting to put the bag with the dog up there. If anything, why didn't they take the dog out before putting the bag up there? I know that is probably against the plane policy but at least the flight attendant would've seen the dog and maybe have understood what was going on because she was obviously inattentive. It just seems that everyone in this situation was being ignorant on purpose.
The third thing that makes no sense to me is that a french bulldog is a short-nosed dog, this means it has breathing issues. It is therefore kind of irresponsible to fly with such a dog, also seeing that many dogs that die on airplanes are short-nosed dogs. If you do choose to fly with such a dog you should make sure to reduce its stress levels because of their breathing problems. So even if it was a policy to put the dog in the overhead locker, they shouldn't have because it would obviously make it more stressed. Either the dog was going to stay with them, or they would leave the plane. That should've been their only two options. But again, this is pure ignorance and negligence from the family and mainly the mother.
The fourth thing that makes no sense to me is that they left the dog there for three freaking hours. THREE HOURS. They never checked up on the dog? Who does that? Not even mentioning all these passengers who were also on the plane crying about it on social media. Where were you in all of this? You said the dog was barking and howling why didn't you check up on the dog? Now you all of a sudden care cause it is dead? But where were you when it was barking and stuck in the overhead locker for three hours? Cry me a river.
But again, leaving a puppy for three hours alone in the overhead locker is pure ignorance and negligence of the family. I saw an interview with the mother and the kid and the kid was telling the story and she was legit upset. I don't blame her for anything that happened. She's a kid. The mom just looked dumbfounded that such a thing could've happen and didn't seem to want to take any responsibility. She seemed ignorant and obviously uneducated about travelling with dogs and especially with that specific dog breed. It makes me sick that people think they can just carry a dog around like it is a freaking toy or a fashion statement and forget it is ALIVE and BREATHING. A dog isn't there for your convenience; you adopt it into your family and they become a member. You are responsible for its well-being. So take some fucking responsibility. If the mother would've done some research she would've also found out that United Airlines is basically the least pet-friendly airline that exists, seeing that they have the highest rate of pet deaths of any US airline for the past three years.
Yes, of course United Airlines is to blame for the death of Kokito, namely the idiot flight attendant who was being inattentive beyond anything I've ever witnessed. But the family shouldn't get a free pass for this one. Many people would've rather left that flight than putting their dog in the overhead locker because they would know that their pet would die if they would've put it there. These people are called responsible dog owners. As one commenter on this news article put it: "If they are so callous then they should not be having pets( these are live beings no laptops and jackets)."
