In domestic news, a Florida woman flying home to Florida from Baltimore for a medical procedure flushed her “emotional-support hamster” down an airport toilet, allegedly on instructions from Spirit Airlines:
Pebbles, the emotional-support hamster, was flushed down an airport toilet. Her owner blames @SpiritAirlines for giving her bad info https://t.co/JErmxvTimY pic.twitter.com/9a7aydfHE3
— David Ovalle (@DavidOvalle305) February 8, 2018
From the Miami Herald:
Before Belen Aldecosea flew home from from college to South Florida, she twice called Spirit Airlines to ensure she could bring along a special guest: Pebbles, her pet dwarf hamster. No problem, the airline told her.
But when Aldecosea arrived at the Baltimore airport, Spirit refused to allow the tiny animal on the flight.
With her only friends hours away at campus, Aldecosea was stuck. She says an airline representative suggested flushing Pebbles down an airport toilet, a step that Spirit denies. Panicked and needing to return home promptly to deal with a medical issue, Aldecosea unsuccessfully tried renting a car and agonized for hours before doing the unthinkable.
RIP Pebbles:
NEW: Spirit Airlines pushed me to flush my emotional-support hamster down an airport toilet, student says https://t.co/JErmxvTimY pic.twitter.com/cWvaJhy2tq
— David Ovalle (@DavidOvalle305) February 8, 2018
Now, we get that this is heartless and all, but Spirit did tell this woman she could bring the tiny rodent on the plane with her:
A spokesman for Spirit acknowledged the airline mistakenly told her that Pebbles was allowed. But he denied that a Spirit employee recommended the option of disposing of her pet in an airport restroom.
“To be clear, at no point did any of our agents suggest this guest (or any other for that matter) should flush or otherwise injure an animal,” spokesman Derek Dombrowski said.
And she was flying home to allegedly get a benign tumor removed, if that makes her decision any better:
In November, Aldecosea learned the growth was benign, but it was still painful. Withdrawing from school and going home hoping to have it removed, Aldecosea booked a Spirit flight from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to Fort Lauderdale.
What do you think?
Read the entire story here.
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