"Luvskats00" wrote in message
...
http://www.nbc5.com/travelgetaways/2662716/detail.html
According to NBC5 tv news:

An Oregon family said their cat died because it was not allowed to be
carried
on with their other two felines. Sara Stano said her family chose Delta
Airlines because they assured her their three cats would be allowed as
carry-on
luggage. Instead, Stano said, the family was allowed to carry on only two
cats
and had to check the third one.

When they arrived in Greensboro, N.C., the cat in the cargo hold was dead.
"They brought him out in his kennel, and they sat him down next to us, and
he
was dead," Stano said. "He had been dead awhile. He was really stiff, and
he
was really cold. It was horrible," Stano said.

Delta Airlines did not comment on the cat's death, but their guidelines
state
that passengers assume full responsibility for animals that are
transported. -
story end.

I think this is horrible, but I think the family dropped the ball. They
should
have relied less on the assurance of a telephone sales agent or travel
agent
and received a confirmation IN WRITING. After all, three cats were to be
travelling. In addition, why didn't the family refuse to board and demand
intervention by a very senior airline executive to try to work this out?
Also,
if passengers are legally allowed to bring at least one carry one piece of
luggage, then why wasn't each family member allowed to designate one cat
carrier as their designated piece of carry on luggage?

I will personally contact Delta for these answers and hope y'all do as
well? If
Delta did cause the death, I hope everyone boycotts the airline!

It's pretty standard for airlines to only allow a maximum of two animals in
the cabin proper, so they should definitely have asked for confirmation in
writing. I doubt they could have got that rule changed, but I agree they
should also have refused to board until they knew everything was in order. I
suspect that, since their third cat was not scheduled to travel in the hold,
the pilot did not turn the heating on down there (there's no point heating a
luggage area if there are no live animals down there), and that's what
killed the cat.

My cat crossed the Atlantic in the hold with British Airways. Her flight was
delayed because the heating on her scheduled flight was faulty and they
didn't want to risk it, so they put her on a later flight a little later.
She stayed with the BA agent until she could catch her flight, and her
flight went fine.

This is a very sad story )-:

Helen