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Woman speaks out after family dog put on wrong United flight

The third United Airlines story to make headlines this week landed in Summit County Thursday. A woman is speaking out after they say their dog was placed on the wrong flight back home, leading United to divert one of its planes to the Akron-Canton Airport.

Karen Jones of Green was coming back from a Florida vacation – her arrival was scheduled at the Akron-Canton Airport (CAK). But when she got on the plane, she said she learned that her dog, Dudley, was not on the same flight -- only leading her to fear the worst.

Jones was flying to CAK from Florida, through the connection at Newark, New Jersey. She checked with the airline attendants to see if Dudley was put on the same plane as her for the second leg of the trip back home.

“I said to the gate agent, my dog is going to be flying with me on this flight. He’s in cargo and I want to make sure he’s on this flight,” Jones said. “They said we don’t have any information and that I would have to talk to the flight attendant and the captain should have the paperwork.”

READ MORE I United Airlines flight to STL diverted after a pet was ‘mistakenly’ loaded onto the flight

After boarding her flight from Newark to CAK, Jones said she spoke to the flight crew to confirm Dudley's location.

"An official said, well we did misplace your pet but we found him.”

Jones said it was in that moment that she learned United had mistakenly put the dog on a flight to St. Louis.

Jones said her flight to CAK was delayed about an hour as crews worked on a plan to reunite her with her with Dudley.

First option: Dudley would land in St. Louis and take a later flight home

"I said, 'he can’t be in a cage that long.'"

Second option: Divert Dudley's Untied flight to CAK.

"The pilot said 'we’re departing now,'" Jones said. "Your dog is going to be at Akron-Canton before you. I was like ‘oh, okay.’"

Jones said United had asked that the plane Dudley was on be diverted to CAK where he would be waiting for Jones before her arrival about an hour later.

This is third United incident involving pets that has gone public this week. On Tuesday, a family dog was placed into an overhead bin and died. On Wednesday, the airline mistakenly shipped a dog to Japan instead of Kansas City.

“Baggage gets lost all the time, but when you’re dealing with a live animal I think you treat that differently than baggage.”

Jones noted that there was another issue with the kennel she used to travel with Dudley when she left to Florida in February. Jones said she was told by gate agents that the kennel Dudley was in did not meet requirements, but Jones insisted that the the kennel matched the recommendations online. Jones said it resulted in her postponing her trip.

United responded on Friday with the following statement sent to NBC:

"United Express flight 3996 from Newark to St. Louis diverted to Akron to drop off a pet that had been loaded onto this flight mistakenly. The pet has been safely delivered to its owner. We provided compensation to all customers on board for the diversion."

"I’m not going to fly Dudley again," Jones said. "Unless I hear they’re changing things."

Jones hopes policy changes are made to allow for better communication when families travel with pets.

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