In its third public pet mishandling in less than a week, United Airlines mistakenly loaded a dog onto the wrong aircraft Thursday, and this time diverted the plane from Newark Airport in order to reunite it with its owner.
The dog was on United Express flight 3996 from Newark to St. Louis, when it was supposed to be on a plane to Akron, according to the airline.
The plane diverted to Akron so that the dog could be delivered to its owner. All passengers on board the plane were compensated for the diversion, United Airlines said.
It was the latest embarrassing pet gaffe for the airline in days. United mistakenly flew a German Shepherd named Irgo to Japan when it was supposed to go to land in Kansas City, Missouri. When his family went to pick up Irgo, they were instead given a Great Dane.
United said in a statement that the dogs were somehow put on the wrong flights during a connecting flight in Denver. Irgo was reunited with his family in Wichita Thursday night.
Also this week, a 10-month-old French bulldog named Kokito died on board a Houston-to-New York flight when a flight attendant ordered a passenger to put her pet carrier in the overhead bin, sparking outrage.
