Okay, somebody put a wrong sticker on a kennel containing a pet when neither was actually lost.
Actually the rest of Yokobono's story:
"I didn't trust them getting on the plane and had them confirm my dog was onboard before I boarded, they lied to me and said she was. I got my dog back a day or two later and a flight credit as well but will never forgive them or fly them again."
I'd say that qualified as "lost". I simply left it out because I wasn't sure what qualifies as "a day or two later", but it certainly sounds like the dog was left behind and had to be shipped on a later flight. Whether you want to count that as "misdirected" or "lost" the fact remains that the dog did not arrive when and where she was supposed to arrive.
That stinks. Did that person indicate if the destination temperature was below WeatHer's -12c (pretty standard), or whether hedgehogs have a lower tolerance for cold?
I think I might use terms a bit stronger than "that stinks", but yes, it does. Toronto in January can typically have temperatures that vary widely, but I wouldn't leave a jacket-less person out on the tarmac in -12C weather, much less a small animal. That's frostbite weather. And given that this was most likely an
African pygmy hedgehog (the most common pets), I'd say yeah... it would have a low tolerance for cold.
Misdirected, not lost. Weather cargo does not appear to be a separate company, just that owners sending pets as cargo need to bring them to a designated warehouse.
If owners were allowed to personally bring their pets to the correct warehouse, I'm sure they would. So that one's on Westjet Cargo. And whether you want to call it misdirected or lost, the fact remains that this 100lb dog was not delivered to its destination, and as it result it suffered hunger and thirst and was forced to lie in its own waste for 40 hours.
Well, yes. Planes make no money sitting on the ground. Airlines strive for the fastest turnaround possible. Tossing all the gate checked luggage down is scads faster than walking down two or three bags at a time.
That's no excuse for throwing people's belongings 20 feet through the air and smashing them on the ground. The last time I was on Air Canada (and believe me, I rarely have anything good to say about them, especially after they tried to bump my minor child to a different flight!), they had a conveyor belt set up and the crew were quickly and efficiently loading bags. I watched and the bags arrived at the bottom in one piece and were loaded on the trolley in a professional manner. It was faster, but not destructive. I was quite positively impressed (but I still kept my bags with me).
When people turn their belongings over to an airline, they're trusting that the airline will take
reasonable care with them. What I saw was not reasonable, and downright horrifying if you imagine there might have been an animal or two travelling in that same hold.
