Good information to have

[Dayna]

In case you are traveling:

http://www.petflight.com/pet-incidents/airlines

[Irish]

Geez, Louise! Remind me to steer clear of Continental if I ever have to send/travel with one of my non-human family members! 27??!!!! That's outrageous!

For all but one creature that died, their response was basically (the wording varied) "Description of any corrective action taken: No action was taken, as the death was not transit related." That one animal escaped his non-cable-tied crate, and was chased around the airport tarmac long enough that he got heat exhaustion and died. Methinx I see an actionable result from that one....

And for animals who escaped their crates because the required cable ties had not been attached by baggage people, who are supposed to attach them, the response was always, "Continental's policy already requires cable ties for the kennel door to prevent escapes and Continental intends to continue and reinforce this policy." Hmmm....

I dunno about others, but when an airline has 4x or MORE the deaths and injuries on its planes than any other airline, I'd be thinking they have a problem that needs addressing.

[kateBird]

thank you for that great link - keeping it in my favorites.

[Lisa B]

great link..

[cfulhage]

Yikes- scary!

[WeLuvBirds]

OMG, Emerald is being shipping through Continental I didn't notice any incidences with birds but I'm starting to get scared for my boy. Should I take solice knowing that non of these incidences involved birds?

[Valo's Moirana]

I'm wondering how useful this information is without the number of
*) total number of people travelling on each airline, and/or
*) total number of animals travelling on each airline

it's like me saying i know 5 people.... out of 5 (a lot), out of 100 (not so much), out of a million (not worth mentioning)

please be careful with information given in absolute numbers since it can be misleading (not trying to say it is in this case, since i don't know)

[WeLuvBirds]

Well James just pointed out to me that as of that incident, there were over 8,700 animals shipped, 27 were either injured or died. He said think if the numbers, that's like 1%. He thinks we shouldn't worry.

[pinkparrot]

wow, Jade is getting shipped delta. but, I think it is for the year of 2006 so 6 is not so bad I think everything will be fine.

[Irish]

Originally Posted by pinkparrot

wow, Jade is getting shipped delta. but, I think it is for the year of 2006 so 6 is not so bad I think everything will be fine.

Unless, of course, your family member is one of those 6......

One is too many, imho. As long as animals are considered cargo and shipped as such, as long as baggage handlers don't treat crated animals with any more care than the baggage they're constantly losing or destroying, and as long as airlines don't value anything but their bottom line, then there will always be room for improvement.

That said, sometimes there are few or no other options for getting an animal from point A to point B. In which case, you do the best you can (like avoid Continental!) and pray your friend makes it safely to his or her destination--just like I do whenever _I_ get on a plane!