Airline Accidentally Sends Family Dog To Saudi Arabia Instead Of Nashville

Airline Accidentally Sends Family Dog To Saudi Arabia Instead Of Nashville iStock/Sjo | WSMV4

A family has said that their 5-year-old dog Bluebell is traumatized after accidentally being flown to Saudi Arabia instead of Nashville, Tennessee. Madison Miller and her family moved from London to Tennessee and brought their beloved pet with them… or so they thought. Bluebell never ended up on their flight. And while the animal survived the tumultuous journey, the aftereffects are still being felt.

  1. Miller received a photo of Bluebell locked in her crate after she landed. The photo showed that Bluebell was in Saudi Arabia, the dog’s owner told WSMV. “After we knew she was in Saudi Arabia, it was just all hands on deck. How do we get her back?” she said.
  2. It took three days for the family to hear more about where the dog was. Eventually, Bluebell was put on three more flights and traveled for more than 60 hours to make her way back to her family in Nashville.
  3. Bluebell hasn’t been the same since. The animal wasn’t excited to see her family at all upon arriving. While Miller said she thought it would be “kind of like the reunion you see on YouTube, like she comes out of the crate, she’s wagging and licking your face,” that wasn’t the case. “We had to go and grab her because she was so horrified and that’s when we knew something was wrong,” Miller said.
  4. The experience has turned Bluebell into an entirely different dog. The trauma she experienced has led to serious behavior problems that the family is struggling to cope with. “It’s been a 24/7 ordeal, she cries in the night and during the day. It has broken our hearts as her parents. She is our family and we let her down,” Miller told The Mirror. “We’ve paid $3,000 for a behaviorist, and she takes anxiety medication three times a day. I’m afraid of the costs of this. They’ll be wracking up hard and fast.”
  5. The family has no idea how this could have happened. There are multiple safety checks in place to avoid disasters like this, but that didn’t save Bluebell. The Miller family wants answers as well as financial compensation from IAG Cargo, who handles the animals on behalf of British Airways.
  6. IAG Cargo has released a statement. “We are very sorry for the recent error that occurred during Bluebell’s trip to Nashville. We take the responsibility of caring for people’s loved animals seriously and are investigating how the redirection happened,” the company told WSMV. “Whilst Bluebell’s route was longer than it should have been, we ensured she was on the first flight back to Nashville from London Heathrow. During her time with us, she received refreshments frequently and had time outside to stretch her legs – including regular walks and eight hours with the team at the Heathrow Animal Reception center who cared for her. Despite these measures, we understand that this has been an upsetting situation for Bluebell and her owners and remain in contact with them to resolve the situation.”
Jennifer Still is a writer and editor with more than 10 years of experience. The managing editor of Bolde, she has bylines in Vanity Fair, Business Insider, The New York Times, Glamour, Bon Appetit, and many more. You can follow her on Twitter @jenniferlstill
close-link
close-link
close-link
close-link