More Airline Stupidity

[MA-Caver]

ATLANTA (AP) -- A caged, 2-inch turtle traveling with a 10-year-old girl caused a crew to turn around a taxiing plane, take the girl and her sisters off the flight and tell them they couldn't bring their pet along.
The sisters threw the animal and cage in the trash and returned to their seats crying Tuesday after AirTran Airways employees on the jetway said they couldn't care for the turtle while their father drove to retrieve it. Two days later, however, Carley Helm was reunited with Neytiri even though at first the family thought the pet was emptied with the trash.
Carley was heading home to Milwaukee after visiting her father in Atlanta with sisters Annie, 13, and Rebecca, 22, when the flap unfolded.
Rebecca said the three were led onto the jetway and told they'd have to get rid of the baby red ear slider -- named Neytiri after the princess in the movie "Avatar" -- if they wanted to reboard.
"I asked, 'What do you mean get rid of it?' and they said throw it away," she said. "I was very sad, and I felt bad for my littlest sister because it was her first pet and she was planning to take care of it herself."
While the sisters say they were told to put the animal in the trash, AirTran says they chose that themselves, despite an offer to fly later at no extra charge.
AirTran company policy bars animals other than cats, dogs and household birds in the cabin, said spokesman Christopher White. White cited a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that says the reptiles have been known to carry salmonella bacteria.
The sisters say they made it past security screeners and an AirTran gate agent before boarding. One flight attendant told them to stow the cage under their seat, they say.
But with the flight rolling toward its takeoff, an attendant told them the turtle wasn't allowed in the cabin.
More of the story here: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Tiny-turtle-causes-taxiing-apf-1122992999.html?x=0

Ok first tell the girls they can stow it under the seat... then tell them to throw it away... a living animal and telling a small child who is probably thrilled with her FIRST pet and tell her that she has to throw it in the trash. Nice.
If the animal was loose (say the girls were carrying it in their pockets or whatever then yeah I could see how it's possible that a tiny 2 inch little bitty turtle would spread salmonella among the passengers. But locked up in a small cage and nobody touching it (presumably the parents told the girls to use the anti-bacteria hand sanitizer after handling the little creature) and placed under the seat... hmm... sounds like an Airplane sequel to me. Sheesh.
It's stupid and it was downright a MEAN thing to do. And how difficult would it have been to put the cage (I'm thinking it's more like one of those cute little plastic boxes with vent holes that the animals are in at the store) even on the floor somewhere until daddy comes to pick it up and they can figure something out later...

Airways employees on the jetway said they couldn't care for the turtle while their father drove to retrieve it.

Ok at least the turtle was saved and the girls have their pet back...

Carley Helm was reunited with Neytiri even though at first the family thought the pet was emptied with the trash.

Geez... hope this doesn't affect or hurt the kids later.

Hard to put into words how I feel when reading this article... it's just so... bloody stupid.
What do you all think?

 

[Blade96]

I had pets since i was 8 and as an 8 year old imagine if someone had told me i had to throw my first pet (my tomcat Fluffy) in the trash.

Yes he was a little kitten and this is a turtle but a pet is a pet is a pet. I'm sure the little child loved their pet as much as my 8 year old self loved my little kitten, who was my first pet.

Evil airliners.

Give em oi - zuki!

 

[Tez3]

Dangerous throwing turtles away, that's how the got the Ninja ones.



Some odd things in the story, I can't imagine anyone actually throwing away a live animal so the family were definitely wrong to do that, if in fact that's what they were told to do. The airline said they could fly later with no extra charge so why not take that suggestion. The oldest 'child' was 22 so more than able to take a decision like that and to have common sense.
I'd take this all with a pinch of salt.

 

[Drac]

Hard to put into words how I feel when reading this article... it's just so... bloody stupid.
What do you all think?

You said it best..Its just SO BLOODY STUPID...

 

[Tez3]

I don't actually believe all the story, these weren't children travelling on their own, they had an adult with them. For an aircraft to stop 'rolling forward' and offload passengers is a very, very expensive deal, lose your take off spot and it costs a lot of money to get another. The girls' luggage would also have to be offloaded so no airline is going to go to all that trouble without what they believe is good cause.The plane's captain obviously felt there were good grounds for offloading them.
All they had to do was take another later flight, turtle safe, girls only a bit late. If anyone had suggested to my children they put a pet in the rubbish I know what the answer would have been and I know what I'd have done, remember these weren't unacompanied children they had their 22 year old sister with them, hardly a child. The airline may have been heavy handed but the oldest sister, the adult, is as culpable if not more for actually throwing the turtle away. They may have gone through many agencies to get to the plane but once there the captain of the plane is the final arbiter of what and what doesn't go on his/her plane.

I would question the wisdom of a small child having a turtle as a pet in anycase. Not the best idea frankly.