Family devastated after dog dies in cargo hold during Delta Airlines flight

Eight-year-old Pomeranian Alejandro was found dead in the Cargo hold on a Delta Airlines flight
Local4

A family has been left devastated after their dog died in the cargo hold during a Delta Airlines flight.

The eight-year-old Pomeranian, named Alejandro, was found dead while being transferred for a connecting flight as it travelled from Phoenix to Newark, New Jersey.

Its body was found found in its carrier on Wednesday morning at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

The airline says it is "conducting a thorough review".

Alejandro's owner Michael Dellagrazie told local television station WDIV-TV: "When he landed here in Michigan, he was alive at 6.30am, and then at 8.20 he wasn't moving and it just doesn't make any sense to me.

"We lost a family member. That's exactly what happened, and somebody has to be responsible for it. He was in their care and they didn't take care of him."

Delta told another television station, WXYZ-TV, that a flight attendant checked on Alejandro about 6am. The attendant checked again about two hours later and the dog was dead.

The airline said in a statement it was "conducting a thorough review of the situation to find out more about why this may have occurred to ensure it doesn't happen again".

It comes after a French Bulldog puppy died on a United Airlines flight after its carrier was stashed in the overhead store in March.

The family's attorney, Evan Oshan, also represented the owners of the French bulldog puppy.

"I think this stretches beyond just pets," he told WXYZ-TV. "I think this is the way that airlines, commercial airlines in general, treat people. They are treating people horribly."

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