[Sue Kiefer]

Yesterday I had a client's dog shipped to me with arrival @ 4:45P.M.(from Houston Inter. through Cinn.,Ohio)
So I pick up the kids from school and we are off the airport.
I get to the ticket counter to pick him up and the agent says " Oh,your dog was put on the wrong plane so he missed his connecting flight to Appleton,Wis.He should be here by 9:41p.m.
Nobody called me from Delta to tell me,this dog was dropped off at the airport in Houston @ 9a.m.,and he was shipped in a 500 series crate.(how could they miss him???? :roll: )The ticket agent says call first before you come so that we can be sure that he is on this flight. I said Ok thanks.
Before I leave for the airport I call and ask if they see that a dog is on flight 5018 to arrive @ 9:41p.m.
The guy says"We won't know till we open the cargo door!!!!!!" :evil: :evil:
What's up with that??????
I hire a babysitter and drive back to the airport to meet his flight arriving at 9:41p.m.At 10p.m. I make a cell phone call while waiting inside the terminal because I don't see anyone around. I hear the phone ringing in the backroom. At 10:15p.m. I ask at the Midwest counter if anyone is around he says I don't know??? :evil:
At 10:20pm. someone finally opens the door to the backroom and says "Are you waiting for a dog"? No **** I wanted to say. :evil:
I'm the only person in the area holding a leach and collar.]
After airing the poor guy , I go back to the counter to finish paperwork. I ask this gal, My cell number appears on the airbill Couldn't someone have called me?I said this is a live animal here not a piece of luggage.
This crate had no ties to close the crate door and had no water/food instructions. I asked if they fed/watered him in Cinn. Ohio. She said well I think so????
I am very very angry to say the least. This is a $3000 puppy. Not that a normal pet shouldn't get any less treatment.
What's the deal with Delta?????
I ship all the time and its getting worse. They charge you more for shipping and the service gets worse.
Anyone have a similar experience or know who to complain to?????
Thanks for letting me vent!!!! :shock:
Sue
P.S. Appleton, Wis. IS a small airport. And it is normal to pick the dog up at the ticket counter.

 

[Last Frontier Labs]

NEVER had any problems with Northwest...

 

[K G]

When I ship a dog, before I leave the counter I have a direct phone number to that counter, I have the supervisor's name for that shift, I have the supervisor's name for the next shift, and the agent's name that shipped the dog. I also have the phone numbers for all shipping counters in between (Cincy, in your case) and the same numbers for the destination counter. Having the waybill number is a given. I also take a cellphone picture of the dog out of the crate and in the crate. This shows how I left the dog when I left the counter, including food and water containers attached to the front of the crate as well as the envelope containing all pertinent info taped to the top of the crate. The pictures have never been needed so far.....

When the departure time comes, I call the departure counter and find out if flight xyz is on the runway and if waybill #123456789 is on that flight. They can find out the answer. I then have the option of calling the layover counter (if applicable) or the destination counter and finding out if waybill #123456789 is on their manifest for arrival. I pretty much always do that. Since I already know the intinerary, I can ask who the person is (or the name of a person) who will be on duty when the dog arrives and have the "will you watch out for my dog?" heart-to-heart with them.

Having accomplished all of this, I can now call the person to whom I'm shipping the dog, give them all the information I've gathered, and wait for their call that they have the dog.

I don't ship a ton of dogs, but I haven't had a problem so far. :wink:

kg

 

[ramblinmaxx]

Sue,
We had a very big problem like that a few years ago. It was with American Airlines, though.

Raz was in heat so we were shipping her to Jim and Judy Powers to be bred to Ram. Lesa gets her to the airport more than 2 hours before the flight so that they have plenty of time to get her on the plane. Lesa tells the people to be sure and call if there is any problem. No call so we assume we will be hearing from the Powers when they pick up Raz. Instead we get a call from Judy asking where is Raz? She is not on the plane. Lesa calls American Airlines and they say, Oh we forgot to get her out of the truck so she will be on the next flight. Well when it was all done Raz had to stay in her crate for over 12 hours and she is one that will not relieve herself in the crate. I really believe this ordeal messed up her heat cycle, because we only got 2 pups in that litter. She usually has 8 or 9.

We complained to American Airlines and they refunded our freight bill, but would do nothing else. We had 6 clients that had to wait until the next Ram x Raz litter for their pups.

We have never used American Airlines again.

Sorry you had such a bad experience with Delta. Now I know not to use them either.

Regards,
Marty

 

[K G]

If I were going to ship I'd use Delta in a heartbeat. My experience with them is that they are VERY dog friendly.

And I don't own any Delta stock... :wink:

kg

 

[Guest]

If I were going to ship I'd use Delta in a heartbeat. My experience with them is that they are VERY dog friendly.

And I don't own any Delta stock... :wink:

kg

I've only had one bad experience and it wasn't the airlines fault, but it did deal with a connecting flight -- the only one we've ever done and the only we'll EVER do. I will only do direct flights... The connection just adds another place for the dog to get stuck. If people get stuck all the time, surely the dogs get stuck more often...

I'm sorry for your ordeal Sue.

We had a puppy that ended up in a crate for 13 hours.

Although he had pottied, he was mentally no worse for the wear.

Makes me think that it might be worth shipping them (puppies) in larger crates ($$$) with potty area in one end and bedding in the other... ugh.

I've put puppies on several planes to the west coast, never had a problem... it makes me nervous to hear of other peoples' nightmares, though.

-K

 

[Boondux]

I had a super experience shipping a pup on Northwest Airlines.

 

[ErinsEdge]

Delta is now different folks. I think the counter people are outsourced. Friend had the same problem just last week. They do not have the computer track the dogs or the air cargo people are not notified. Dog went from KC to Atlanta 4 hour wait and was to go to DesMoines arriving at 7pm. No dog, cargo employees don't know where dog is. Finally they got someone at the Delta 888 # to say dog had missed the flight and came in at midnight. The dog was put on the plane by a training kennel. Too bad they didn't use Midwest. I avoid Delta especially through Atlanta unless there is no other choice. I realize people have good luck on blah blah arlines, but if they don't service the cities you need, it doesn't do you any good to know they are good.

 

[JusticeDog]

I had a super experience this past year with United. I was picking up a rescue that was being shipped to me in Chicago from Virginia. United called to tell me what time the flight was expected in.... and then called me when it landed to see if I was close by. The dog had to be transported from the terminal to the freight terminal. They were awesome.


On the other side of the coin, they have people who leave them sit there and sit there, and they enver seem to get picked up....

 

[ramblinmaxx]

We have never shipped on Delta, but have had really good experiences with Midwest, Northwest and Continental.

Marty

 

[K G]

My point, regardless of the airline you use, is that the more informatoin, phone numbers, names, and communication that YOU initiate, the more that they know you're going to hold them accountable.

Too many commercial shippers ship animals as cargo for pet stores and the like. There is -zero- personal connection there. Shipping a dog on ANY airline is as likely as not to result in problems if the folks doing the work don't feel like they're accountable.

kg

 

[msdaisey]

Northwest and Continental have always been good for me.

The only problem I ever had was with Delta and a puppy who missed three connecting flights to Arizona. No one could tell me a thing and we almost drove to Philadelphia to find him. It turned out that he went home with the vet, who knew another ACC member, but it would have been nice if someone could have called the phone number on the crate to tell me!

I shipped a puppy from Norfolk VA to Alaska with no problems via Northwest - even had a clean crate.

 

[Buzz]

Delta is now different folks. I think the counter people are outsourced.

Last summer, Martha Russell showed up at the airport with a pair of littermates to ship out here to Sioux Falls SD airport. One was mine, the other was going to a well known trainer who's just released a DVD. She phoned ahead the day before and asked what time she needed to be there to check the dogs in. The person says, well we usually require X amount of time, but his is just a little old airport in Burlington Vermont. You can be here at such and such time.

So, they crate the pups up and come waking into the airport at something like 5:30 am. There is a huge line, and they are told to step aside, that they need to tend to the human cargo first. So, John and Marth stand there and wait, and wait, and wait some more. Next thing you know, the door closes and the plane backs away from the gate. The Russells were beside themselves, they asked to speak to a manager. HE WOULDN'T COME OUT AND SPEAK WITH THEM! She got the dogs another flight on NW later in the day, and thank God they made it, because we'd been having a terrible heat wave at that time and were wanting the dogs out really early so they could get to their destination. We had that one day when they could actually ship all throughout the day(thang goodness), then the heat came back on again for a couple of weeks.

I called Delta, and went through many people on the phone before someone finally told me that those gate atttendants were outsourced to some service company. Some experienced folks who were scheduled to be there didn't show up, and they had to call in trainees who were extremely slow because of marginal training to that point. They closed the door on them and left John and Martha holding the bag because the didn't want to tarnish their on-time departure schedule...

I have flown 100's of thousands of miles on Delta, but have not booked a flight with them since that incident.

 

[K G]

Well, there you go.........

I shipped a dog to MSP this past summer directly from Atlanta on Delta and had no problem whatsover.

That was then regards,

kg

 

[Andy Carlson]

I shipped puppies on 3 different occasions from little old Bangor Maine to Denver via Cinncinnati on Delta and Delta was great!! I also flew with Briezy from Bangor to Atlanta via Cinncinnati and could not be happier with how we were treated.

Andy

 

[Buzz]

I shipped puppies on 3 different occasions from little old Bangor Maine to Denver via Cinncinnati on Delta and Delta was great!! I also flew with Briezy from Bangor to Atlanta via Cinncinnati and could not be happier with how we were treated.

Andy

It is apparent that it is the people who build the public perception of a company. Everyone from A to Z. You know the old saying, one bad apple...

It appears that I reached into the basket and grabbed out that rotton one!

 

[Teri]

I try to always ship Continental when possible...at least out of Houston.

I recently shipped 3 puppies--2 on Continental and 1 on Delta. I made the reservations via phone. Continental walked me through the process ( even tho I have shipped quite a few dogs with them and know what to do); made sure I knew precisely where the Quick pak office at IAH was located; where to park for quick pak; that it was essentially a 24 hr a day office; that the phone number was 24 hr a day; need to be there an hour early etc;etc.

Make reservations for Delta. Specifically ask where I need to go at IAH as I have never shipped Delta out of IAH and am told 'follow the signs to Cargo"; be there 2 hrs early.

Get to IAH and gee, there are *3 different* Cargo areas. Hmmm. Good thing I am early. Drive ALL around all the areas and I cant find a damn thing with Delta on it. Since it is 6:30 am, the phone number doesnt work for Delta as they hold 'regular' hours. Swell. I finally decide to go to Continental and get those 2 pups shipped.

Continental mades sure i have extra holes drilled on either side of the door so the door can be zip tied ( which I had already done); asked permission to open the door and give the puppies some ice cubes; leave the pups in the climate controlled room.

I then ask if anyone has a clue where the Delta cargo office is located---and get this....* Delta doesnt have a cargo office, Air France does their Cargo!!! *Gosh, dontcha think that might have been a useful piece of information to provide me with??? I was livid.

The other thing I like about Continental Quick-Pak is that the dogs are usually in the baggage area before the bags! None of this waiting for an hour or more for them to bring dogs across the airport on who-knows-what kind of vehicle to the Cargo area.

Teri Jakob

 

[Lisa S.]

Have shipped puppies on most airlines via cargo. Have had problems with only 1 airline: Alaska Airlines and they blew it TWICE. The first time I thought it was just a particular employee's fault. The second time, I discovered it's the whole company's problem. The interesting part is that many dog people around here rave about how good Alaska's service is. :roll:


Northwest is top notch service for shipping a dog.

 

[ErinsEdge]

I have shipped quite a few puppies on Delta in the last year and crossed my fingers and it was fine but it seems that if everything doesn't go fine, you can't find anything out. Continental stopped shipping pups from my airport but they weren't perfect either. It all depends on the people at the airport.

 

[Debbie C]

This is a great post. I will be travelling with my dog in late April, and I am so worried about the dog in cargo. Unfortunately, there is two stops. One in Minniapolis, and one in Tennasee. I have asked if the dogs are tended to, and some say they are and some say they don't know. I will be using North West airlines. I think I am gonna climb into cargo and hang out with her there. I am even gonna try and bribe the attendants to let me go to her myself once we land...... I know I don't have a chance in He!!, but its worth a try right...