Website Tracks Pet Deaths on Major Airlines

On a trans-Atlantic flight to Germany some time ago, I witnessed a woman having complications with a little dog she brought on board. The dog was confined to a cage small enough to be considered a carry-on, and it was obviously agitated and ready to be set free. The poor pooch tried to escape by biting onto the metal cage, where it eventually got it’s mouth stuck in the open position. Over the next 20 minutes or so, the woman — worrying loudly in a panicked German accent — tried to pry her dogs mouth off of the metal bars. Luckily, she was successful, and the dog lived to make it off the plane and out of that tiny cage.

Not all pets are as lucky as this one, though. I recently ran across PetFlight.com — a site dedicated to tracking airplane-related pet deaths across the United States, organized by date and airline. So what airline is your pet most likely to die on? Continental, the data shows. They’ve reported 27 animal deaths/injuries (including one rat) since May of 2005 — almost three times the amount of runner-up, American Airlines, who reported 10.

Luckily none of the airlines reported any snakes on their planes, dead or otherwise.

Previously on Gadling: Fluffy is Gone.

[Thanks, Tom!]