to ask you to boycott Aeroflot airlines

[Motherofcats333]

If you are flying to, or via Russia, may I ask you to boycott Aeroflot, or at least to consider it. This Russian airline was recently responsible for deaths of 2 cats flying in cargo on New York-Sofia flight with a stop in Moscow. Their pet carriers were thrown around by luggage handlers and 2 cats died from internal haemorrhage, 3rd injured by frostbite. This is not the first instance of Aeroflot animal cruelty.
www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/01/27/aeroflot-sheremetyevo-under-fire-for-cat-passengers-deaths-a69049

If you are a breeder travelling for purchase or show, please use responsible airlines that allow pets to travel with you in the cabin. If you know a breeder who goes to these parts of the world, please warn them.
If you are an animal lover and have time, please consider writing to your MP asking to consider temporary ban on Aeroflot operating in British airspace, or a short debate in the Parliament. Economic sanction is a powerful tool. Let people chose other, equally inexpensive European airlines, who have generous allowance for pet travel in cabin - instead of these criminals.
Thank you.

Boycotted.

Shit airline anyway.

😢😢😢

Wouldn’t fly with them anyway, shitty airline, but poor little cats.

Luggage handlers are generally employed by the airport, not the airline. Therefore I'm unsure what boycotting the airline would achieve.

What Lockheart said, it could have happened to any airline... unless you know for sure that they were definitely Aeroflot employees? Also, not all airlines allow pets to travel in the cabin, especially on long haul flights as there are lots of people with allergies.

Aren't baggage handlers employed by the airport or subcontractors, not the airline?

Lockheart, ZebrasAreHorsesInPyjamas, nevermorelenore

You are right, they are often subcontractors, but in the previous instance Aeroflot insisted a cat deemed too heavy for the cabin had to go in the cargo, the man refused, substituted the cat for a lighter one (quick social media campaign while at the airport)to pass control, and boarded with his cat. Aeroflot stripped him off his airmiles and insisted their cargo is a good condition for a pet to fly. It was only last autumn.

I am generally aghast at the rules that a living creature is supposed to fly in freezing temperature (remember, how cold your suitcase come out on the carousel?), with the turbine noise. It has to change.

Thank you for support. I used to fly with them but won't anymore.

I am generally aghast at the rules that a living creature is supposed to fly in freezing temperature (remember, how cold your suitcase come out on the carousel?), with the turbine noise. It has to change.

You know animals don't fly beside the luggage? The live cargo section is temperature controlled and pressurised just like the cabin

You know animals don't fly beside the luggage? The live cargo section is temperature controlled and pressurised just like the cabin 

It certainly is, if not everything would come out frozen solid.

Well, these particular cats must have travelled somewhere else rather that "live cargo with controlled temperature and pressurised like a cabin" for two pet carriers came out mangled (see pic in the article) and one suffered from frostbite.

I would suggest if you read the article it mentions the cat with frostbite was not taken into the airport during transfer at moscow. This is most likely where the cat got frostbite given the sub zero temperature.

I’d be interested to see a list of these European airlines that allow pets to travel in the cabin...I know there are a few but the majority don’t allow it (with the exception of support animals) - animals travel in the hold with suitable precautions having been taken.

As has been said by others the underfloor cargo holds on airliners are all pressurised to the same level as the cabin, and they generally have a default temperature several degrees above zero. If “livestock” (e.g. cats, dogs) are carried then that particular part of the hold is usually be set to run at a higher temperature than the norm, typically in the mid-teens Celsius.

Reading the article about the Aeroflot incident it looks to me as if the problem was on the ground handling side of things.

I’d be interested to see a list of these European airlines that allow pets to travel in the cabin

from the PostOffice website, the first I looked at:
"KLM will allow small cats and dogs to travel in the cabin, up to a total weight of 8kg – including the carrier – on most flights.
You can take a small dog or cat in the cabin of a Lufthansa flight, up to a total weight of 8kg, including the carrier.
TUI (formerly Thomson) will allow pets weighing up to 6kg to fly in the cabin."

I am not convinced that the hold is a suitable and safe place. Yes, currently it is an option for a heavier animal. But what "currently is" is not necessarily how it should stay; and I believe better more humane conditions should be the future.

Here is the proof that previously, just 2 months ago, Aeroflot insisted on a cat going in the luggage hold. They didn't mention any special "air tight, controlled temperature and pressurised" live cargo holds.
www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/12/aeroflot-fails-to-see-the-funny-side-after-passengers-fat-cat-swap

Oh for goodness sake of course they don't mention the bloody temperature and pressurisation. It's one of those things that's presumed (they talk of the hold and refer to the bold that animals go in) because of course no one is exposing live animals to temperatures of minus fucking 50

last thing I would want is a yapping dog or stinking cat in the aeroplane cabin, with the exception of an assistance dog which would be trained to be quiet.

if you insist on taking animals on long journeys, they fly in the live animal hold (not in the unpressurised luggage space, dimwits!). Leaving them outside in Moscow in winter not a good idea and that's what appears to have happened. Not the airline, the ground staff.

As smash store so eloquently points out - by default and for structural reasons the underfloor holds on any medium/large airliner are pressurised to the same pressure (“cabin altitude”) as the passenger compartment - they have to be for structural reasons..

As for temperature - I can only reiterate that certainly on the aircraft I’m familiar with the whole of the underfloor hold space is by default “ conditioned”, typically to about 7 Celsius. If animals are known to be onboard then we carry them in a specific part of the hold(s) which can can be controlled to be somewhat warmer. I cannot envisage any circumstances where in normal operation an animal in the hold on any modern airliner is going to end up hypoxic and frost bitten, even if the crew were not aware the animal was in board.

Thanks for the info about airlines that are animal/cabin “friendly”.

mencken I'd prefer not to be called a dimwit. I didn't insult you personally and if you disagree there is no need to ridicule.

smashstore You may be speaking from knowledge and I hope I didn't come across as ridiculing your point by using quotation marks. If so, I am sorry. I do not though, personally, trust the suitability of live cargo conditions.
If the blame is with the luggage handlers, as some said, I think the responsible airline, being aware of the problem, should improve their policy and allow pets on board. That would be a nice gesture.
As to yapping dogs, most owners would ask vet advice about safe medication for their pets prior to travel, to minimise their distress. Main distress to staff and other passengers is still humans, either unruly adults being nasty to staff or crying children. Pets fly rarely; in my some 20 years of regular flights I've only seen one small dog going to the cabin with the owner.

I'm clearly very angry and upset by this story, and tried in polite terms to alert people who might be interested. Please let's be nice to each other.

I think at least every airline has one of these stories. Would you boycott British Airways too? Emirates, KLM?

Its a sad unfortunate accident. You never know how a animal is going to react on board an aircraft but asking to boycott an airline is silly. Im more cross at those people that subject their animals to this.

No I will not boycott them on the say so of someone on MN. I got a certificate and badge when I flew with them in 1994! Very cheap vodka as well.

As others have said, it's the airport ground staff who left the cat outside.

That is disgusting. So glad I didn't use Aeroflot when I flew my cats here from abroad.

Definitely boycotting.

Bezalelle I'm really glad your cats arrived safely and thank you for support :)