I agree that a large majority of the time the airlines are great with dogs. There are of course exceptions, as with everything. We have flown dogs many times and have never had a problem. In fact, one time when a plane was slightly delayed and we were going to miss a connection Continental went above and beyond making sure we were on the same plane as our dog and even bumped us up to 1st class!! Jeff -----Original Message----- From: RivendellP <rivendellp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: Showgsd-l <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 10:39:35 -0800 Subject: [ SHOWGSD-L ] Ch Whippet lost at JFK Okay...Okay...it was Delta. You all can stop emailing me. That does NOTHING to change my mind about my earlier post. We don't read these stories every day because they don't happen every day. They are the "exception" rather than the rule and we need to cultivate the airlines...not bash them. It's irresponsible to paint Delta as irresponsible with such a broad brush. We all have our stories and I could relate a couple that still makes my blood boil. That said...with all of the times our dogs have been shipped properly in our 25 + years in dogs...I am satisfied the dogs normally receive excellent care. It's comments like these that caused us problems in the 1st place. Do you remember the Boris Bill Ginger? SB 1112 or something like that. It was sponsored by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D) NJ. It actually passed and had to be defeated in committee. It would have resulted in every airplane that carried animals to be retrofitted at a cost of $50,000.00 per plane. It would also have brought the Feds right down the throats of the airlines with extreme regulations shipping dogs, cats, or any other animal. Guess who was behind Boris? HSUS, PETA, and DDAL. Hmmmm...those groups sound quite familiar don't they? All 3 groups worked quietly but hand in hand behind the scenes. They wrote the legislation especially to deal with shipping baby chickens across the nation but were equally pleased that if would effectively halt shipping of all dogs, cats, and virtually all other animals. They were dancing in the streets when Boris passed both the House and the Senate. Then the "entire animal family" found out and went to work. I had to buy a new fax machine because I sent so many my 1st one melted down and Boris was killed. Yeah you say? No...many airlines realized the possible liability they could incur if they continued to ship animals. They all didn't just stop...but they made it way more difficult and EXPENSIVE $$$$ than it had been. They all doubled their fees and some would only take animals as cargo at 4 times the price even tho they ride in the exact same place. Now over the years we continue to lose one after the other and I'll be honest with you all...they way we treat them I can't say I blame them. No...I'm not holier than thou and I have screamed at a gate agent because she didn't jump right up and tell me where my dogs were. I have learned since then...that the old adage of getting more with honey than vinegar is true. You all can continue to bash them if you wish...but it's lose, lose for all of us if you do. Like I posted...if you take into consideration the number of animals that are shipped successfully in comparison to the bad stories the number is huge in favor of the good stories. You never read about it when everything goes right, do you? Paul > http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/am-jfk0215,0,7072069.story > > Paul opines... > > That's odd...I read the article several times and didn't see Delta's name > mentioned once...or how or who the dog escaped from. > > I surely hope you haven't crossposted this like you did the last one. > > In this day and age we need all of the "flying friends" we can get. If you > take into consideration the number of animals that are shipped on a daily > basis...the mistakes are tiny in comparison to the number who make it just > fine. > > In the last 5 years we have flown out dogs on Delta, Alaska, American, and > Frontier with not even the hint of a problem. I always thank the people at > the check in desk, the person who takes the dog down to baggage, and the > person who brings the dog to me on arrival. > > Continued slamming of airlines on exceptional circumstances will not make > any points for us who need all the points we can get to keep them flying > our > dogs. As I said in my post last week...if there's a problem in shipping > deal > with it and move on. > > If you have someone walk your dog from time to time and continually kick > him > in the shins...pretty soon he will wise up and stop walking the dog. > > Paul > > > ============================================================================ > POST is Copyrighted 2006. All material remains the property of the > original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or > FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the > original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. > > ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY > MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS > PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY > FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL > BE PROSECUTED. > > For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx > > VISIT OUR WEBSITE - URL temporarily deleted due to AOL issues > ============================================================================ > ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2006. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - URL temporarily deleted due to AOL issues ============================================================================ ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2006. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - URL temporarily deleted due to AOL issues ============================================================================