United at it again

O

old cfi

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Old CFI
Woman shipped her very expensive rabbit from London to Chicago but the rabbit was found dead in a holding area after landing. Seems this rabbit was the son of the world's largest, around 4 1/2 ft long, and it was thought he would surpass his sire. News also added that United has the highest mortality rate on shipped animals in the commercial flying industry.
 
Perhaps it's time for them to change the name back to Continental ! People actually liked Continental. They've already got the livery right just need to change the lettering.
 
Saw the article about UA having the highest animal mortality rate, that must be terrible losing a pet like that :(
When we got our puppy he was still small enough to be able to travel in the cabin with us, I can't imagine having him down below. Although I believe "emotional support animals" are allowed on board? I feel like if you have a desperate enough need to bring your pet traveling with you then that probably puts you in the "emotional support animal" category...
 
Art VanDelay said:
Perhaps it's time for them to change the name back to Continental
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It would probably work to be honest. I bet most have no idea that ValuJet became AirTran... or that for a while their SAABs were actually GM cars...
 
old cfi said:
News also added that United has the highest mortality rate on shipped animals in the commercial flying industry.
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The news was wrong.

Hawaiian has the highest rate because they operate so many of their flights in a high heat and humidity environment.

United has the second highest rate because they have the highest percentage of long-haul flights.

Both heat/humidity and length of flight are big risk factors for the animals. The rabbit flew from the UK to Chicago, I believe.
 
I wonder about the look on the captain’s face when the flight attendant told him the rabbit died.

eek.gif
 
Pilawt said:
I wonder about the look on the captain’s face when the flight attendant told him the rabbit died.

eek.gif
Click to expand...

I said this to a "younger person" (for me that includes just about everybody) today, and got just a blank look. That's not unusual for my humor, but in this case I realized that one must be of "a certain age" to make the intended connection ("This led to the phrase 'the rabbit died' being used as a euphemism for a positive pregnancy test").

o_O
 
Should have sedated the rabbit, let him/her dream about carrots till they land....
 
Pilawt said:
Friend of mine said, "Wonder if they needed the rabbit's seat for a crew repositioning flight?"

:confused:
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Might be the only place left to put commuting crews when this all shakes out. They're ultimately going to take the brunt of this, after all. Stuff always rolls downhill.
 
denverpilot said:
Might be the only place left to put commuting crews when this all shakes out. They're ultimately going to take the brunt of this, after all. Stuff always rolls downhill.
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There is a difference between deadheading and commuting. Dead headers are must ride and commuters don't get on if there are no seats available.
 
Lindberg said:
We have a rabbit. Used to have two. They're apparently very "fragile" animals.
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I know of one survivor. Our dog once chased one down and caught him. Never left a tooth mark on it. The bunny let me check him over before hopping into a brush pile. His heart rate was probably in the thousands of BPM at the time.
 
Here's the back story, about the rabbit owner. It's all about a farm-management company in Iowa, and how they bought the rabbit to show, as a promotional gimmick for the company:

http://www.press-citizen.com/story/...ied-united-flight-headed-iowa-farm/306682001/

excerpt:

Bryan Bergdale, a Peoples Co. land broker, bought the 16-pound rabbit from British rabbit breeder Annette Edwards, with plans to enter him in the Iowa State Fair's biggest rabbit contest this summer.

"I'm kind of bummed," said Bergdale, whose boss Steve Bruere and his friends purchased the rabbit and paid for his transportation to the United States. It cost about $2,300.

"I was getting excited for the little guy, I mean the big guy, to get here," said the 29-year-old, who as the "low-man on the totem pole" was assigned the odd project of finding a "biggest rabbit contender."

Bruere, president of Peoples Co., a Clive farm brokerage and management company, got the idea after walking around the Iowa State Fair with clients last year, looking at the big bull and other big-animal winners, Bergdale said.

"He saw the biggest rabbit winner and, 'Let's do this. This could be fun,'" Bergdale said.

Bergdale said he had a home ready for Simon at a Norwalk farm, where a pen had been built, and rabbit pellets and hay purchased, "everything you need to care for a rabbit."​
 
Norman said:
I know of one survivor. Our dog once chased one down and caught him. Never left a tooth mark on it. The bunny let me check him over before hopping into a brush pile. His heart rate was probably in the thousands of BPM at the time.
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But now he is plotting his revenge.
 
Norman said:
I know of one survivor. Our dog once chased one down and caught him. Never left a tooth mark on it. The bunny let me check him over before hopping into a brush pile. His heart rate was probably in the thousands of BPM at the time.
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We actually had that happen. I wanted to wash him off, but my wife told me baths can kill them....
 
Greg Bockelman said:
There is a difference between deadheading and commuting. Dead headers are must ride and commuters don't get on if there are no seats available.
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Yup. Understood. Rules already changed inside your company, too.

(According to some folks who commute out of here, where 20 years only holds the bottom line holder spot on some aircraft in the left seat.)

Stuff always rolls downhill... the must ride thing now depends on timing, apparently. I'm not privy to the emails and announcements. But they weren't real pleased with it.
 
Settlement reached, terms not disclosed.

Wonder how much Dr Dao took to go away.

I really wish it had gone to court. Think of the ratings.
 
paflyer said:
Settlement reached, terms not disclosed.

Wonder how much Dr Dao took to go away.

I really wish it had gone to court. Think of the ratings.
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The weak pro poker player figured his odds, and ran back on the plane. Smarter than the rest of us, looks like.
 
Pilawt said:
I wonder about the look on the captain’s face when the flight attendant told him the rabbit died.

eek.gif
Click to expand...

I'm 60 and just BARELY know what that meant. I heard jokes on tv with it from the fifties, as a kid, had to ask.
 
Pilawt said:
I said this to a "younger person" (for me that includes just about everybody) today, and got just a blank look. That's not unusual for my humor, but in this case I realized that one must be of "a certain age" to make the intended connection ("This led to the phrase 'the rabbit died' being used as a euphemism for a positive pregnancy test").

o_O
Click to expand...

I'm not 100% sure but as a kid I think I was told they actually did test for pregnancy using rabbits.
 
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