Airline loses passenger’s dog at world’s busiest airport

Flying Delta Air Lines with Maia within the cabin along with her, Rodriguez’s journey included a layover at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, earlier than persevering with to San Francisco.

But on arrival at Atlanta at 6.55pm that Friday (9.55am Saturday AEST), Rodriguez says that border drive workers knowledgeable her that she “didn’t meet the requirements” of her vacationer visa – so that they canceled it, telling her that she’d need to return to residence on the following flight.

When they realised that wasn’t till the following day, they mentioned she’d need to spend the night time in a detention heart – however that her canine could not come along with her.

“They called a Delta agent, who took Maia from me,” Rodriguez informed CNN.

“I started asking questions about where she’d be spending the night, and told him she’d been in a lot of distress on the flight. When we’d got there [to Atlanta] she’d puked with distress and had diarrhoea.

“He informed me to not fear, that she’d be taken to a facility with workers skilled for that. That they’d give her meals and water and care for her. It wasn’t my want, however I understood. There was nothing I might do, and I trusted him.”

A reunion that never happened

Rodriguez’s flight back to the Dominican Republic was scheduled for 10.20am the following day (1.20am on Sunday, August 20 AEST), and border staff told her that they’d pick her up from the detention centre one hour and 45 minutes before her departure, to take her to the gate, where her dog would be waiting.

“I requested everybody – I informed them I wanted time to find her, that she was sick and I needed to scrub her kennel, they usually mentioned, ‘Let’s go to the gate, she ought to be there,'” said Rodriguez.

Passengers were already boarding as they arrived. But Maia wasn’t there.

“The gate workers began making calls. A supervisor got here and mentioned they had been searching for her, that she ought to be within the facility however they did not have time to look and I ought to get on a airplane,” said Rodriguez.

“I began panicking and mentioned, ‘I’m sorry, I am unable to get on once you’re telling me you do not know the place my canine is.'”

They shifted her to a flight an hour later, leaving for Punta Cana, a two-and-a-half-hour drive away from Santo Domingo. Rodriguez was happy to switch destinations, and assumed that it was a simple mixup and Maia would make the next flight.

But Maia didn’t show, and border agents told Rodriguez that she couldn’t be in the US for more than 24 hours without a visa. She had to leave on that flight to Punta Cana – without the dog.

Rodriguez says she had a panic attack on the three-hour flight to Punta Cana. She and Maia have barely spent minutes apart from each other since Rodriguez, who used to rescue street dogs and rehome them, found her as a month-old puppy and couldn’t bear to part with her.

“Everyone who is aware of me is aware of what she means to me. I do not go wherever with out her. She’s so effectively behaved that I take her to eating places, actually in every single place. She’s my accomplice in all the things,” she told CNN.

Upon landing at Punta Cana, she filed a report. Meanwhile, her mother went to Santo Domingo in case the dog had ended up there without anyone realising.

“I known as Delta, Atlanta airport, even San Francisco. I filed each declare potential. I known as all of the shelters and veterinary surgical procedures I might in Atlanta. I used to be in agony for 2 days with no reply,” said Rodriguez.

On the Monday, two days after the dog went missing, she says she was called by a Delta representative in Santo Domingo.

“He mentioned that she was being transported [to the plane] on the runway, and workers had opened her kennel, and he or she had obtained out of the automobile and escaped into the center of the runway,” she told CNN.

“Planes had been taking off and coming in. He mentioned they chased her however she ran quicker and quicker and he or she escaped. That’s all I do know.”

The following day, she was called by another Delta representative, informing her that he’d be handling her case.

“I’ve known as him a number of instances a day however he has no updates,” she said.

With her US visa cancelled, Rodriguez isn’t allowed to fly back into the United States to search for her dog. Instead, on August 24, six days after she last saw Maia, Rodriguez’s mother was flown out to Atlanta to represent her.

“They’re giving her a tour, and displaying her the tapes, however she says there’s nothing – no leads,” said Rodriguez.

“The factor is, that airport has greater than 4000 acres (1600 hectares). My mum informed me it is scary dimensions – it is positively a risk that she’s hiding within the airport, however she could possibly be in loads of locations.”

Maia is microchipped, and Rodriguez says that she and Delta have notified every animal shelter and veterinary surgeon in the county, and sent them photos of her – which is why she thinks Maia might still be in the airport.

“If anybody had discovered her, they’d have taken her to a shelter and he or she’d have been scanned. My info is true there. The highest risk is that she’s nonetheless there, hiding,” she said.

A Delta spokesperson told CNN in a statement: “Delta groups have been working to find and reunite this pet with the shopper and we stay in contact with the shopper to supply updates.”

“Delta individuals really feel deeply involved for the shopper and the canine and we’re dedicated to ongoing search efforts, working intently with the City of Atlanta Department of Aviation and different stakeholders,” they said.

Meanwhile a spokesperson for the airport told CNN: “ATL’s operations groups conduct runway and airfield inspections all through the day.”

“At this time they haven’t encountered the canine, however will proceed to stay vigilant ought to she seem,” they said.

“If she is seen, ATL’s workers will try and seize her and return her to the airline and her proprietor.”

They did not respond when asked how the dog was allowed to escape in the first place.

For Rodriguez, the wait for news is painful.

“I’m in agony,” she said.

“I’ve been residing a nightmare since Friday, understanding my child is on the market someplace scared, or is perhaps injured. All sorts of ideas come into my head and I am unable to do something. Every minute appears like a day.”