Mix-Up Sends North Texas Pet To Hawaii, Instead of Mississippi
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DFW AIRPORT (CBS11) - A scare in the air for the owner of Bethany the Pembroke Welsh Corgi.
She was supposed to fly Saturday from DFW International Airport to Jackson, Mississippi, about 352 miles.
But instead, American Airlines mistakenly put her on a flight to Honolulu, Hawaii, some 3,287 miles.
Julie Kubasek doesn't own Bethany, but with 5 dogs and three cats, she can relate. "I would just be beside myself. Just be so worried about what would happen, what could happen and I know people would be trying to do what they could, but the poor little dog would be so scared."
Bethany's owner, Paul Chen posted a flyer on Facebook with the hope someone would find her.
An American Airlines spokeswoman says they sent out a system-wide alert and found Bethany Sunday morning.
Chen declined an interview, but in an email, thanked American's customer services manager for working tirelessly to find his beloved dog.
Kubasek says she has reservations about flying with her pets. "I do, and mostly because I wouldn't want my dog to go into the belly."
The American Airlines spokeswoman says the dog is doing just fine and while in Hawaii, is being cared for by a vet.
Lillian Eyer is a veterinary technician in Richardson. She says, "There's nothing unusually dangerous about flying with your pet."
Eyer says a longer flight can be stressful for some dogs, but I've traveled with pets quite a lot and quite extensively, and I never ran into any problems. A little bit of anxiety, but that was waiting time, the dog was just excitable, different things like that."
Losing pets on planes is not that common.
Airlines have lost 52 during the past ten years.
But Julie Kubasek isn't chancing it. "When we take the dogs, we always drive. It makes it a little challenging sometimes, but it's worth it for us."
American Airlines says it's still investigating how this happened.
Bethany will be sent on a flight overnight Monday back to DFW Airport, and then will be flown the next day to Jackson, Mississippi.
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