A dog was put on a wrong flight to another country this week. An English springer spaniel named Hendrix took a little trip to Ireland just before St. Patrick's Day, but he was supposed to fly from Newark to Phoenix.
The six-year-old dog was traveling in cargo with United Airlines when he was put on the wrong flight. Once the airline realized its mistake, they immediately took the appropriate steps to get Hendrix reunited with his owner, CNN reports.
Owner Edith Albach got a call from the airline 10 minutes before the flight to Phoenix, which Hendrix was supposed to be on, was supposed to land. She was told about that her dog never made it to Phoenix.
"Originally, I thought the dog had died and I started screaming," she told ABC. Then the airline staff member cleared up the misunderstanding and said the dog was on its way to Shannon, Ireland.
"I almost fainted," she said. "My husband and my daughter were already at the airport waiting for the dog."
United staff took good care of the dog. They walked and fed him and he was able to spend time with his owner in Newark before he was placed in another flight to Phoenix.
Albach's daughter, Meredith Grant was already in Phoenix as the family is in the process of moving. Meredith had flown on an earlier flight through US Airways but that airline does not allow pets to fly in cargo.
The dog was put on another flight to Newark, where he spent five hours with Albach before he was placed on another flight to Phoenix. Hendrix landed safely in Phoenix on Friday night.
"When my mom called me I was like 'my dog got sent to frickin Ireland? How Ireland? Not even like he went to Florida...he's in Ireland,'" Grant told KNXV.
United apologized to the Albach family and offered them a full refund, but the Albach's don't plan to put Hendrix on another plane for a while after this incident.
"I wasn't even looking for a refund. I just wanted somebody to say we screwed up," she said. "That's not what they said."
Grant is happy that she was reunited with her dog but she hopes United punished the person who caused the mix-up.
"They should not have their job anymore, I mean, he's been on a plane for 24 hours."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
