Shutterstock / IanC66
Imagine how unsettling a feeling it would be to find out the an airline accidentally sent your beloved pooch to the other side of the world. No leash. No food. All by his lonesome, Homeward Bound style.
Well, that’s exactly what happened to Irgo, the 10-year-old dog from Wichita, Kansas.
The Swindle family was preparing to move from Salem, Oregon, to Wichita, Kansas on Tuesday when they had a layover in Denver, Colorado. Upon boarding the next flight for Kansas, United Airlines mixed-up Irgo with a Great Dane named Lincoln. When the family landed, they were handed Lincoln instead of Irgo.
Irgo had been put on a one-way flight to Naruto, Japan by mistake by handlers who confused the two animals at Denver Airport.
Kara Swindle got in touch with United staff and the family of Lincoln, an American military family who lives in Japan. After alerting staff, Swindle was told her dog would fly home in a regular cabin but ‘for some reason’, the airline changed its mind.
Kara said, via Daily Mail:
‘United wouldn’t let him fly in the cabin so they decided doing their corporate jet would be the best bet and got him there a whole lot faster as well.
‘He’s never gonna want to fly regular again!’ she joked.
Check out the reunion below:
This is the second time in a week United has been ripped for its handling of animals. Just a day earlier, a French bulldog puppy suffocated during a flight from Houston to New York when airline personnel made the owner store the pet in the overhead bin.
[h/t Daily Mail]