(WSVN) - An English Bulldog ended up hundreds of miles away from his intended destination after an airline mistakenly flew the dog to the wrong state.
The incident happened on July 19 after Claudia Rapkoch dropped off her 7-year-old English Bulldog, named Jello, at Hawaiian Airlines to be flown to Seattle, Washington.
Her husband was waiting in Seattle, planning to pick Jello up from the airport and drive him to their home in Montana.
“Their breed is such they’re not supposed to fly, and most airlines don’t fly them, so we’re kind of grateful that a few do,” said Claudia. “But he can really only fly over the water.”
Claudia’s son and pet cat were also on the same flight with Jello, but while they made it to Seattle, Jello didn’t.
“And yet there was no Jello. And so, at some point, we’re like, ‘They lost our dog,'” said Claudia. “Everybody else arrived except for Jello, and even the paperwork had Jello on the plane. And you see it on his crate, ‘Seattle.'”
After waiting for about an hour for a call back from Hawaiian Airlines, officials confirmed Jello had been flown to San Diego, California.
“They said, ‘We’ve got him. He’s fine. We’re taking care of him,'” said Claudia. “And that was all that really mattered, because after that, I was like, ‘OK.'”
Jello was put in a boarding facility for a couple of days as Hawaiian Airlines reached out to Island Pet Movers, who could pick up Jello from San Diego and drive him to Montana.
“We scooped up a rental car, drove him up to Montana, and he was delivered this morning at about 5:30 in the morning,” said Kari Mendoza with Island Pet Movers.
Mendoza her company has moved over 50,000 pets in 15 years, and situations where airlines need assistance transporting an animal sent to the wrong destination have occurred three other times.
“It’s definitely not as common as your bags going to the wrong place,” said Mendoza.
Hawaiian Airlines released a statement reading in part, “…Our teams take great care to transport all animals safely and comfortably, and we apologize to Jello’s family for this event, which we are investigating.”
Claudia is happy Jello is safe and back home with his family.
“Jello is now home. He’s with everybody else. He’s with the family, and everything is fine,” she said. “You know, it’s a story with a very happy ending, and we’re very grateful for that.”
Claudia said she is happy and grateful for the response and resolution of Hawaiian Airlines, including a full $800 refund, which is the initial cost to fly Jello to Seattle.
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