Pet Pomeranian found dead in a Delta Air Lines crate during stopover at Detroit Metropolitan Airport
Alejandro was in his carrier in a cargo facility at the airport during a stop on flights from Phoenix to Newark, New Jersey
A POMERANIAN dog was found dead in a Delta Air Lines crate during an airport stopover.
Air bosses are investigating the death of the eight-year-old pet, called Alejandro, at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Wednesday.
Alejandro was in his carrier in a cargo facility at the airport during a stop on flights from Phoenix to Newark, New Jersey.
Owner Michael Dellagrazie told : “When he landed here in Michigan, he was alive at 6.30 am, and then at 8.20, he wasn’t moving and it just doesn’t make any sense to me.
“We lost a family member. That’s exactly what happened, and somebody has to be responsible for it.
"He was in their care and they didn’t take care of him.”
Delta said a flight attendant checked on Alejandro about 6am.
The attendant checked again about two hours later and the dog was dead.
The airline is “conducting a thorough review of the situation to find out more about why this may have occurred to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” Delta said in a statement.
The Dellagrazie family is being represented by attorney Evan Oshan.
He also represented the owners of a French bulldog puppy that died earlier this year after a United Airlines flight attendant ordered the dog’s carrier to be stowed in an overhead bin.
“I think this stretches beyond just pets,” Oshan said.
“I think this is the way that airlines, commercial airlines in general, treat people.”
United Airlines stopped its pet-shipping business in March after several dogs were put on wrong flights, but plans to resume shipping pets as cargo in July.
United said in May that it only will accept dogs and cats.
It will ban 25 breeds including pit bulls, boxers, bulldogs, pugs and Persian cats.
The changes don’t affect pets in the cabin.
The French bulldog that died in March was not part of the cargo program.
In 2017, 18 animals died on United, three-fourths of all such deaths on U.S. airlines. United cited its willingness to carry riskier breeds barred from other airlines.
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