# Beware of Airport Mix-ups



## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

It used to be when you checked your dog as excess baggage, you had to have the claim ticket to retrieve him at the destination airport. Not anymore. They off load the dogs and stick them in the corner of the same room as the baggage carousels. When I went to pick up Arkane in Oklahoma City, one of the sky caps had his crate on a cart and was walking out with my dog and some woman. I walked up and told the bitch it was my dog & she said "oh I thought it was mine" and disappeared. Interestingly enough, there were no other dogs on the flight. I asked the sky cap if anyone verifies ownership or checks the claim tickets and he said no. It is the same now in just about every airport, even big ones like Los Angeles International. I have spoken to others who have had the same experience as mine. Even if it's a case of mistaken identity, if she had left with my dog, my dog would have bolted the minute she opened the crate. If you fly with your dog be sure to verify the dog makes it onto the plane & connecting planes before the plane takes off so you can get off if you have to. Once you land at your final destination go directly to where ever the airline off loads excess baggage so you can get your dog (before someone else takes a liking to him). 

Lastly, when you check your dog in you will have to take him out of the crate for inspection before you can check him in. Be sure and bring zip ties to the airport so that when you put the dog back in the crate you can zip tie and secure the door in all four corners so no one can easily open the door allowing your dog to escape!


----------



## Lacey Vessell (Nov 18, 2006)

Thanks for the info Susan. Glad the lady did not make off with your dog, to bad she could not be detained to find out the real story. As crate aggressive as my bitch is, I doubt if anyone (without experience) in their right mind would want to go anywhere near her crate, but hey ya never know. If I can't drive there.....we ain't going. I know driving is not always possible for some


----------



## Amanda Layne (Aug 9, 2006)

Wow, that is a scary thought. I pretty much drive everywhere I go (having 3 dogs and all..) but I have thought more than once about flying home to Texas this summer with my puppy. Don't think I will be doing that....


----------



## steve gossmeyer (Jan 9, 2007)

That is creepy i would have probally done alot more than say what you did. lol lace if anyone ever tries to take coda i wanna see a video of that. and the er report


----------



## Sam Trinh (Jul 31, 2006)

steve gossmeyer said:


> lol lace if anyone ever tries to take coda i wanna see a video of that. and the er report


Lacey i think an additional camera angle of coda's dog-knapping would be nice:


----------



## steve gossmeyer (Jan 9, 2007)

those are sweet elite has those


----------



## Kim Gossmeyer (Feb 24, 2007)

I would be like um, if you are taking my dog you owe me some money!! She isn't cheap!


----------



## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

One person told me how the rottie he checked in did not make it on the flight, so he got off to investigate. They found the dog in a rarely used freight elevator in a different terminal. The only explanation is a baggage handler must have taken a real liking to the dog. 

Flying is sometimes the only way to get where you are going. You just have to be very very very protective of your dogs & cover all the bases.


----------



## Greg Leavitt (Aug 31, 2006)

Thats why I hate shipping dogs. I had an entire litter get "accidently" picked up in dallas on their way to me from Georgia. When I got to the airport they said there was no live cargo on the flight, and I hit the roof. Susposedly someone else was picking up 12 german shepherd puppies that were on the same flight. Sounded very fishy to me. What airline was it by the way?


----------



## Amanda Layne (Aug 9, 2006)

Greg Leavitt said:


> Thats why I hate shipping dogs. I had an entire litter get "accidently" picked up in dallas on their way to me from Georgia. When I got to the airport they said there was no live cargo on the flight, and I hit the roof. Susposedly someone else was picking up 12 german shepherd puppies that were on the same flight. Sounded very fishy to me. What airline was it by the way?


OMG, so what happened?


----------



## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

This time I was flying Frontier, but I think the policy of not verifing ownership is an industry wide problem. I know others have had the same situation with other carriers. Come to think of it, when I got my dog from the Netherlands 15 years ago I don't remember having to show any documentation at all to the Delta Air Cargo folks either. What airline were those pups shipped on? This is ridiculous. I made a pretty big stink about it when I got into LAX this time (they didn't check either), but maybe there is something more I can do.


----------



## Greg Leavitt (Aug 31, 2006)

Delta Air Cargo. What ended up hapening was that they found that the ladies litter had missed the flight. Right and she didnt know and so thought they were hers. I guess they caught the mistake as they were loading them in the back of her truck. They called and found out the dogs were mine and not hers and from what the lady in dallas said she didnt even stick around to ask when her dogs were coming in. People are shady. We got them just three hours later than expected.


----------



## Lacey Vessell (Nov 18, 2006)

I had to show a picture ID (Drivers License) when I picked Zane up at Delta Air Cargo here a couple of months back....maybe at least Delta got their sh*t together now


----------



## ann schnerre (Aug 24, 2006)

this kinda scares the piss out of me. when we went to omaha to get brix, he was just in luggage, in his crate, anyone could've walked up and picked him up!! 
we didn't know where he was at first, and personnel weren't really interested in helping us find him either (delta).
thanks for the heads up in flying dogs--i never really thought about it before....but i will now!


----------



## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Wow...I had heard such good things about Delta for shipping dogs! Anyone tried Midwest Airlines? I'm still contemplating flying the pup from Kadi's litter in the cabin (in a soft sided carrier no less, yikes!), but it's a 3.5 hour flight from LAX to Kansas City non-stop, which is a long time for young Mal puppy to be non-violent and unobtrusive in a soft sided Sherpa-style carrier.

Edit to add: Midwest Airlines just started a new program where if you take 3 round trip flights with your pet (or 6 one ways), the 4th round trip is free for the pet. Pretty cool for the jet setter crowd.

http://www.midwestairlines.com/MAWeb/assets/pdfs/premierPetBrochure.pdf


----------



## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Maren Bell Jones said:


> Wow...I had heard such good things about Delta for shipping dogs! Anyone tried Midwest Airlines? I'm still contemplating flying the pup from Kadi's litter in the cabin (in a soft sided carrier no less, yikes!), but it's a 3.5 hour flight from LAX to Kansas City non-stop, which is a long time for young Mal puppy to be non-violent and unobtrusive in a soft sided Sherpa-style carrier.


People in our club always say good stuff about Delta.

I'm definitely bringing up this thread tomorrow.


----------



## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

Delta IS good, I think this flaw is in the industry in general. Kadi says they asked her for ID the last time she picked up a dog, so hopefully if enough of us complain the rest of the airlines will follow suit. Other than this one thing (which is kind of a big deal), Frontier was great for both my dog and me.


----------



## David Ross (Nov 24, 2006)

heh, yep. There are scumbags like that everwhere. I probably would have kneed her as there could be no possible mix up, even with any of my past dogs.


----------



## Renee Utley (Feb 6, 2007)

When I fly dogs in the US,I exclusively use Continental Quik Pak. I have used them for many many years and I have always been required to show photo ID before taking possession of a dog.


----------



## Sam Trinh (Jul 31, 2006)

Back in August I had to show ID when I picked up my dog from Delta. I thought they were OK, I remember them not really knowing where my dog was which was disconcerting considering he was over at 1 1/2 late when I asked. He ending up coming about 2 hours late. I am probably complaining too much since airlines are never on time.


----------



## Kadi Thingvall (Jan 22, 2007)

I don't think this is an industry thing, as much as an individual airports thing. And within that airport the individual airlines. When I have shipped dogs, I have almost always (but not always) had to show ID before I could pick them up. In the few cases where I haven't had to show proof of ID, I still had to provide basic information about the dog, IE "I'm hear to pick up an adult Malinois that was shipped from TX on Delta". 

When taking dogs with me as baggage sometimes they have shown up on the baggage carousel, and sometimes a skycap brings them out. When a skycap brings them out they usually want to see some ID before releasing the dog. 

Other things vary from location to location, such as the size crate they will allow you to ship the dog in, how much of a fuss the dog can put up before they deem it "unflyable", how closely they check the paperwork, etc. I shipped two pups once, and when they arrived at their locations each owner was thrilled, until they checked the pups gender. And realized they had the wrong pup. In this case the airline did make it right, and shipped the pups to the right locations for free. But they only did this because I had carefully filled out the shipping information (destination, pickup person, etc) and had labeled the crates with that information. The baggage person was NOT going to accept any responsibility for her error, and was doing her best to blame it on me. But the company wasn't going to buy it, or at least wasn't going to fight me over it, when I pointed out each crate was clearly labeled with the right destination information, then she affixed the wrong paperwork to each crate.

Another time I recieved a Dobe pup from a breeder. In a crate so small I had to dismantle it to get the pup out. He could not stand up at all, and could barely turn around inside. And then there was the time I was shipping a Malinois pup and they wanted me to ship this 3 month old pup in a 500 crate, because they didn't want any part of her touching the top of the crate, including her ear tips. Nice thing about most airport shipping areas, there is another company right next door. I walked across the parking lot and shipped her with a different company, in a properly sized crate.

I think the lesson here is if you are shipping a dog, or flying with one as baggage, you have to make sure you are in the pick up area before the dog. If you are shipping the dog, arrive early. If you are flying with the dog, don't waste time getting off that plane and down to baggage. Before you land, ask the stewardess where you will be picking up your dog. And ask them to verify that information through the baggage handling crew at the airport. So you aren't in one location, while your dog is in another.


----------



## Greg Leavitt (Aug 31, 2006)

I agree that dealing with the airlines is a real hassle. I have used delta many times when a dog was being shipped cod to me and never a problem. They check pretty clearly because they want their money. As far as flying with the dog I have only done it twice and both times delta without a hitch.


----------

