United Airlines suspends PetSafe offering
21 / 03 / 2018
US carrier United has temporarily stopped accepting bookings for pets travelling in the cargo hold via its PetSafe service, while it conducts a review of its offering for pet travel.
It will honour any existing reservations on the product made prior to March 20.
The suspension of the PetSafe service does not affect pets travelling in the cabin – only in the hold. PetSafe is the airline’s dedicated service for animals that are not allowed to travel in a United aircraft cabin.
The decision was made in response to the negative publicity that was attracted following the recent death of a dog onboard a United aircraft. The dog, a French bulldog called Kokito, had been placed in its crate in an overhead bin contrary to United policy.
The flight attendant who placed the carrier in the overhead bin said she had not heard the owner tell her that a dog was in the carrier.
PetSafe had offered travel to more than 300 destinations but its future is now being reconsidered by the carrier.
According to United: “We are taking this voluntary action to conduct a thorough and systematic review of our PetSafe program and make improvements that will ensure the best possible experience for our customers and their pets.”
The airline expects to complete its review by 1 May.
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