A dog meant to be joining its family in Phoenix, Arizona, ended up on a flight to Ireland after being put on the wrong plane from a New Jersey airport.
The six-year-old springer spaniel named Hendrix was due to arrive in Arizona on a United Airlines flight.
But minutes before the flight was due to land the dog’s owner received a phone call to say that the dog had been put on the wrong flight, and was en route to Shannon, Ireland – a seven-hour flight.
The airline told the owner it would have someone clean, feed and walk the dog in Ireland, before it was sent back to the US.
"The dog had already gone seven hours to Ireland, and now the dog has a two-hour layover and then a seven-hour flight to Newark," said the distressed owner, who has been offered a refund of her costs.
A United Airlines spokeswoman said in a statement that the airline regretted that Hendrix was boarded on the wrong aircraft.
"We are reviewing the circumstances surrounding the situation and will take steps to prevent this from happening again," she said.
