Some people take dogs, cats, sometimes rabbits on airplanes when they travel – but not this woman, she tried to take a peacock.
As you do.
The woman, who remains unknown, was flying out of Newark Liberty International Airport and had brought along the beautiful ’emotional-support’ bird.
Unfortunately, United Airlines denied her request to bring her emotional support peacock on the flight, writes Live and Let’s Fly.
They reported earlier this week how even though the woman claimed she had a second ticket for the peacock, the airline unfortunately had to turn down her request.
Earlier this month, Delta announced it would be imposing tighter regulations on support animals, prompting other airlines to re-examine their own rules.
Yet it wasn’t those changes which prompted United Airlines to deny the peacock its seat.
United Airlines told Fox News in a statement:
This animal did not meet guidelines for a number of reasons, including its weight and size.
Last year, the airline faced a PR nightmare when a famous bunny died on one of their flights.
Simon, the 90cm-long continental giant rabbit, reached notoriety as the son of Darius, the world’s largest bunny – and Simon was expected to take over from his dad’s hefty accolade.
Yet sadly, Simon was found dead in the cargo hold of a United Airlines plane when the flight arrived at Chicago’s O’Hare – yes, really – airport from London Heathrow.
Simon’s handler and breeder, Annette Edwards, claims the rabbit was healthy when he boarded the flight – which was transporting him to his new ‘celebrity’ owner in the States.
Edwards, a former Playboy model, said:
Simon had a vet’s check-up three hours before the flight and was fit as a fiddle. Something very strange has happened and I want to know what.
I’ve sent rabbits all around the world and nothing like this has happened before.
Statistics on the US Department of Transportation state there were 35 reported animal deaths on US airlines in 2015 – 14 of those occurred on United flights.
The BBC reports throughout 2015, United carried 97,156 animals, meaning there were 2.37 incidents for every 10,000 animals transported during the period.
This is the highest rate seen on any US airline, according to the data.
In a statement sent to the BBC, United said:
We were saddened to hear this news. The safety and well-being of all the animals that travel with us is of the utmost importance to United Airlines and our PetSafe team.
We have been in contact with our customer and have offered assistance. We are reviewing this matter.
This came just weeks after United were vilified on social media for their physical man-handling of paying customer, 69-year-old Dr Dao, who was thrown off an over-crowded plane.
Oh dear.
