Good grief. After an ugly slugfest of a presidential election, a lot of people predicted that 2017 would be a rough year, but nobody anticipated just how terribly the year would go for United Airlines.
At this point, their best bet might just be to ground their flights for the summer and take some personal time to figure out what went wrong.
First there was the truly disturbing removal of a passenger that went viral. Then a scorpion fell from an overhead bin. Then a couple was kicked off a flight en route to their wedding.
And now comes the tragic death of 10-month old Simon, a giant 3-foot rabbit who was traveling in the cargo hold of a United Flight from the U.K. to Chicago to meet his new “celebrity” owner.
There was apparently some speculation that Simon would grow to become the world’s largest rabbit. We’ll never know for sure.
Simon, one of the world's largest rabbits, dies on a United flight en route to O'Hare. https://t.co/amows11cbA pic.twitter.com/SA1erakI7Y
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) April 26, 2017
The owner talked to The Consumerist, saying:
[lborder]Simon had a vet’s check-up three hours before the flight and was fit as a fiddle,” Simon’s breeder told the paper of the 10-month-old bunny, adding that she’s sent rabbits “all over the world” without something like this happening before.
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United released a statement (what else?) that said “the safety and well-being of all the animals that travel with us is of the utmost importance to United Airlines and our PetSafe team. We have been in contact with our customer and have offered assistance. We are reviewing this matter.”
Well, at least they didn’t blame poor Simon this time, which shows that their PR team is learning. But a PR team can only do so much. Sooner or later, United has to ask themselves if they’re in the right business.
