More dog drama: United accidentally sends German shepherd to Japan

United Airlines hasn’t had a very good week.

Yesterday, reports emerged that a dog had died on a United flight having been placed in the overhead compartment.

Now, the airline has accidentally sent a family’s dog to Japan.

But that’s not all.

When the family went to pick up 10-year-old Irgo, a German shepherd, they were instead given a great Dane.

According to The Guardian, Kara Swindle and her two young children jumped on a flight bound for Kansas City, thinking Irgo would be there to collect when they arrived.

Instead, Irgo had been sent to Japan, the destination where the great Dane was meant to be sent.

“They had no idea where the dog was,” Swindle said.

“I burst into tears instantly because this has just all been a whirlwind. They didn’t know (where Irgo was) until 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday when the plane landed in Japan.”

United Airlines has now issued an apology and is looking into the matter.

“An error occurred during connections in Denver for two pets sent to the wrong destinations.”

“We have notified our customers that their pets have arrived safely and will arrange to return the pets to them as soon as possible.”

“We apologize for this mistake and are following up with the vendor kennel where they were kept overnight to understand what happened,” the airline said.

Swindle said that the event prompts the airline to handle pets better.

“I’m hoping that from now on they take better care of animals.”

“They kind of treat them like they are luggage.”

“I’m hoping they can put something into policy so that this will never happen again.”

“Maybe putting a picture of the animal on the outside of the pen (instead of just paperwork, which is affixed on the outside of each crate).”

“I don’t want anyone to ever have to go through this again.”