UPDATE: Irgo was flown on a private chartered jet back to Kansas City, where he has been reunited with his family. Original story below:
PORTLAND, Ore. – United Airlines is again under fire Wednesday for a mishap involving a pet. This time, a German Shepherd who was destined to arrive in Kansas City instead was sent to Japan.
As first reported by KCTV in Kansas City, Missouri, a German Shepherd named Irgo was flown from Portland to Denver on Tuesday and instead of getting on a connecting flight to Missouri, ended up on a flight to Japan. The family, Kara and Joseph Swindle, were moving with their two sons and beloved 10-year-old arthritic dog from Salem, Oregon to Wichita, Kansas.
A Great Dane, meanwhile, was supposed to head to Japan but ended up in Kansas City.
A Salem resident who was neighbors with the Swindle family contacted KGW and was outraged.
“How does this happen? One dog already died today in United hands. What is going on?” Heather Asher asked.
Asher, who has been in frequent contact with the Swindle family, said when Kara Swindle went to pick up Irgo from the airport, she instead was greeted with a young, terrified Great Dane.
"She was like, 'Oh my god, that's not my dog!'" Asher said. "She started crying; her son who was with her started crying."
Asher said the boarding facility that held the dog overnight before the connecting flight switched the dogs and put them in different crates. She also blames United for not noticing the dogs didn't match the health certificates that are attached to the crates.
Now, Irgo is in Japan, waiting to be shipped back to the U.S. Asher said United is able to ship him back without the normally required 30-day quarantine period for dogs who travel internationally.
A United spokesman told KGW the incident happened during a connection error in Denver.
“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,” said Jonathan Guerin, spokesman for United Airlines.
United paid for Irgo's family to stay in a hotel near the Kansas City airport to wait for Irgo to arrive at the intended destination, KCTV reported.
A French bulldog puppy named Kokito died on a United flight after a flight attendant made a passenger put her pet carrier in an overhead bin. United investigated the incident and called it “a tragic accident that should have never occurred.”
United told KGW on Wednesday that upon further investigation, they learned the flight attendant did not know there was a pet in the carrier when the attendant placed it in an overhead bin.
"We have spoken to the family, our crew and a number of passengers who were seated nearby. We have learned that the customer did tell the flight attendant that there was a dog in the carrier. However, our flight attendant did not hear or understand her, and did not knowingly place the dog in the overhead bin. As we stated, we take full responsibility and are deeply sorry for this tragic accident. We remain in contact with the family to express our condolences and offer support.
To prevent this from happening again, by April we will issue bright colored bag tags to customers traveling with in-cabin pets. This visual tag will further help our flight attendants identify pets in-cabin," the airline said in a statement.
United has a higher rate of pet deaths over the past three years than any other airline, CNN reports.
Christine Pitawanich contributed to this report