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| - THEY WOULD NOT LET MY DOG COME HOME WITH ME! ! ! !
Over the past few days, I have had horrific experiences with American Airlines. I recently moved to Massachusetts, but I was spending two months in Arizona to get married to my fiancé. Our wedding was on February 10, and I was supposed to fly home on February 18. However, I am a kidney transplant patient with one lung, who is also recovering from a double mastectomy as a result of breast cancer. All of my health issues combined with the stress of the wedding resulted in me contracting a serious kidney infection. I went to the hospital on Friday night, February 17, so my husband called American Airlines to change my flight. I was shocked to find out that we would be required to pay a $171.00 fee--even for a medical emergency. There was nothing that I could do, I had to be in the hospital, so we paid the fee and changed the flight to February 21.
I have been flying regularly for the past year with my dog, Lucy (a 12 lb. Chihuahua) in an airline pet carrier. My husband has to stay in Arizona until he finishes his Master's degree in May, so have been flying back and forth across the country with Lucy since August. I decided to switch to American Airlines (instead of JetBlue and Southwest) because American has a better variety of flight times and more options. The American Airlines guideline for carry-on pets is similar to most other airlines:
"When carrying on your pet, you'll need to make sure that they can stand up, turn around and lie down in a natural position in their kennel. Non-collapsible kennels can be a maximum of 19in x 13in x 9in."
I made sure that I checked the guidelines before I booked travel with American Airlines. When I got to the ticket counter, the agent asked to see the carrier (it still had the tag from JetBlue from our flight out to Arizona). The carrier is an upright backpack where the dog can move around, stand up, sit down, cuddle with her toy and blanket (which are also in the carrier), and it slides under the seat where she lays down and goes to sleep. One of the agents was showing the other how this carrier fits under the seat, when the manager suddenly appeared from the back and told them that this carrier was not to go on the plane. I was in shock. One of the agents actually said, "Did she really already say no? Can we just send her ahead?" To which the other agent said, "Yeah, she just said 'no way.'" Then she turned to me and said, "Wow. I am really sorry. You poor thing! You are not going to be able to travel with your baby!" At this point, I burst into tears. I could not believe that this was happening to me. I had just gotten married, and I had to leave my new husband behind, and now my only and constant companion in Boston--where I know no one--was not going to be with me for the first time since I got her as a 10-week-old puppy. I was not prepared (emotionally or financially) to leave without her. At that point, we had to figure out a way to make arrangements for the dog before my flight left because my husband is a full-time graduate student, and he would need a lot of help. I still cannot believe that I am sitting here in Massachusetts all by myself with no Lucy and no way to get her here. I would have cancelled my flight and gotten on JetBlue, but it was too late and there was nothing I could do. I have been inconsolable all day.
Lucy can "stand up, turn around and lie down in a natural position in their kennel" as the website states. This manager never came over to talk to me to explain why she intervened when the ticket agent had already cleared us for our flight, she never came over to explain to me what other options I had to make sure that I could get home safely with my dog, and she never even spoke to me at all. I have never experienced anything like this (is this the behavior of a manager? She just left these poor ticketing agents to deal with the sobbing mess in front of them. All they did was reassure me that they did not agree with her), and I am disgusted at the way that I was treated. I am still sick, and I was just trying to get home. The shock of being told that I would have to do it for the first time without Lucy was more than I could bear. I can't imagine how they could possibly fix this situation, but I am completely distraught without my dog, and this has put my husband and myself in a real bind to get someone to help us with the dog until he can afford to bring her out to me on another airline. I was following the policies that are stated on your website, so this situation is completely unacceptable.
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