A 1st Class Puppy

[aalmiss]

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At last!! Not another story about air rage or stupidity, but a heart warming story about... a puppy.

Dianne

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[b:7fbaa64303]A hairy ordeal, a 1st-class rescue[/b:7fbaa64303]

With a family's new puppy in peril, flight turns tail and returns to D/FW

09:28 PM CST on Saturday, January 17, 2004

By LARRY BLEIBERG / The Dallas Morning News

Think airline service has gone to the dogs? You might be right.

Consider the tale of Sebastian, a 4-pound miniature schnauzer. Last month, the 8-week-old pup was riding in an airplane cargo hold toward his new home in Maryland when a malfunction sent the temperature plummeting. When the pilot learned about the problem, he banked the 131-seat jet and returned to Dallas.

Not only was Sebastian saved, but he ultimately got to fly home in first class.

It sounds like an urban legend, but American Airlines confirms the story.

The journey began in the East Texas town of Whitehouse, where Maegan Jones raises purebred dogs to sell on the Internet.

The runt of one litter, dubbed Sebastian, was sold to a family near Baltimore for $350. He was supposed to fly Dec. 6, but an East Coast snowstorm made transporting animals too dangerous for the airline.
The weather passed, and the next morning Mrs. Jones said her goodbyes and placed the dog carrier in the airline's hands at the Tyler airport. She hated to see him go. "He was a cutie," she says.

But she wasn't worried because she'd air-shipped dogs more than a dozen times without a problem.

The first leg of Sebastian's journey, the flight to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, was trouble-free. After a brief layover, he was transferred to American Flight 2896 bound for Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

But about 25 minutes into the flight, the pilot of the MD-80 jet noticed the temperature in the cargo area was below the safe range of 50 to 70 degrees. He knew that he had a dog in the hold and that it could freeze to death before the plane landed.

So the pilot returned to D/FW, says American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner.

"We respect the fact that he was taking care of what we consider precious cargo on our aircraft," he says.

Mr. Wagner says he doesn't know how much the interrupted flight cost the airline, adding that similar problems involving animals in air cargo are rare.

An industry analyst says such a U-turn costs thousands. The flight was delayed at least 90 minutes, and an MD-80 generally costs $4,500 an hour to run, says Robert Mann of Port Washington, N.Y. That doesn't include landing fees, labor costs while the flight is on the ground, aircraft maintenance and inconvenience to passengers. Several delayed passengers who were American frequent fliers later got letters of apology from the airline and 5,000 bonus miles.

"It's a very costly proposition. That's the best way to describe it. On the other hand, a threat to life appears to have been correctly identified," says Mr. Mann.

But for Sebastian, that's not the end of the story.

Because the jet landed with the extra weight of nearly a full fuel tank, the flight was delayed while workers inspected the plane. Passengers milled about, chatting with the crew. That's when a baggage handler brought Sebastian's pet carrier on board.

"I was talking to the pilot and said: 'What would it take to get us out of here?' " recalls Dr. Rob Martin, an orthodontist from Crofton, Md.

"He said, 'a babysitter.' I said, 'You've got one.' "

Dr. Martin's offer to share his first-class seat brought a round of applause from fellow passengers. All got to see the tiny dog when he was paraded down the aisle by a flight attendant. The orthodontist says a woman sitting in front of him was complaining about the delay, but after she saw the dog, she kept quiet.

Dr. Martin, who'd been on a hunting trip in Central Texas, did his best to make Sebastian feel at home. He covered his lap with an airline blanket and settled the salt-and-pepper pup on an airline pillow. The orthodontist has owned dogs most of his life, but his standard poodle died a month before his trip with Sebastian.

He found phone numbers for the shipper and the new owners in the pup's crate. Before the flight took off, he called both to let them know about the delay ñ and the dog's upgrade to first class.

When Dr. Martin arrived in Baltimore, Sebastian's new family was waiting to greet him. They gave the dog's volunteer courier a souvenir: a stuffed schnauzer key chain.

But by then Dr. Martin said he had grown fond of his seatmate.

"The dog was incredible," he says. "I was hoping no one came to pick him up."

The new owners say Sebastian has adapted to his new home. "He was meek and mild at first. Now he's thriving," says Denise Lewis, who lives with her husband, four children and new pooch in Westminster, Md.

She says there's no question that Sebastian would have died if the airliner hadn't turned around.

"He was the runt. He would have been a Popsicle in a very short amount of time."

Mrs. Lewis, a real estate agent, said she and her husband joke that Sebastian already has had more adventures than they have.

"We've never flown first class," she says, "but our puppy has."

E-mail lbleiberg@dallasnews.com

[TheWife]

Awww, that was really cute. I wonder if my husband would have turned around. Hmmm. I'll have to ask him.

[Kristie]

that's strange.. why would they put a mini-schnau in cargo? the dog is plenty small enough to fit under the seat in the cabin...

I'm glad that the pilot turned around and did the right thing - but someone should have informed the owners that the dog was small enough to fit under the seat in the cabin - thereby not even having to bother with cargo.

A mini-schnau is what we're looking at getting (non shedder, good for allergies, small doug and good protector -> plus it won't eat the cats! haha), so that's how i know... cuz when we get ours, it'll probably be out of state and i'm bringing the girl into the cabin with me! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]'

edit: ok, just read about the owners not being with the dog.. but still, if they had an extra seat - they could have put it there or with the F/A's - i would think putting an 8 week old dog in cargo would be tramatizing and detremental to the dog's health. but that's just my opinion.