United Puts a Dog on the Wrong Plane for the Second Time in a Week

A United Airlines plane diverted after staff learned they boarded an unauthorized dog.

United Airlines plane
Getty

Image via Getty/Justin Sullivan

United Airlines plane

United Airlines is caught up in some more canine havoc.

On Thursday, Flight 3996 boarded an unauthorized passenger: a dog. However, no one noticed until it was too late, when the plane was already in transit. The Times-Picayune reports the flight—departing from Newark, New Jersey to its destination of St. Louis, Missouri—accidentally boarded the pet, whose humans were traveling to Akron, Ohio.

As a result of the mishap, the plane headed toward northwest Ohio, where the dog would be reunited with their family, according to The Washington Post.

This mistake follows the completely avoidable death of a 10-week-old bulldog puppy named Papacito last Monday after a flight crew member demanded the pooch be placed in the cabin's overhead compartment. Although the airline released an official apology, the Internet exploded over the horrific incident.

United unfortunately has a history of mishandling dogs. The Post also reports the airline recently mistakenly flew a German Shepard to Japan instead of his intended destination, Kansas. (How do you confuse those two places?) Additionally, in July 2017, the same airline also lost Schoolboy Q's beloved canine.

This isn't the first, second, or even third time United has made headlines for terrible service. In March 2017, a United employee refused to board two girls because one wore leggings. A month later, another employee forcibly dragged a man off an overbooked flight.

Latest in Life