Suit Says a French Bulldog Died on an Alaska Airlines Trip After Being Moved From First Class to Coach

An Alaska Airlines passenger from San Francisco says that their pet dog, a 3-year-old French bulldog, died because they were careless when they asked him to move from first class to coach on a trip from New York to San Francisco.

Michael Contillo said he bought a first-class ticket for the February 1 flight so that his dog, Ash, would have more room and be around fewer people. The lawsuit says that Contillo was asked to move to coach, which made Ash anxious and put her health at risk, ultimately killing the dog.

The case against Alaska Airlines was filed on October 16 in San Francisco County Superior Court. It claims breach of contract, negligence, negligent hiring and supervision, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Punitive damages are what it wants to be decided at trial.

The lawsuit says that Contillo took a trip from San Francisco to New York in November with his father and two French bulldogs named Ash and Kora. These people flew first class and had a smooth trip. Both French bulldogs got to New York safely, the report says.

People who filed the lawsuit say that both dogs were healthy while they were in New York. Before their flight back to San Francisco, the plaintiff took the bulldogs to a vet hospital to make sure they were healthy enough for the trip.

“Both dogs were healthy, and the vet said they could take a cross-country flight,” the suit says.

Along with the two dogs, Contillo and his father went back to San Francisco International Airport on February 1. The suit says that Contillo bought two first-class tickets with his father to “make sure that the dogs had more space and that they would be able to board the flight early.”

The suit says he followed Alaska Airlines’ rules by calling ahead of the flight to reserve both in-cabin and first-class space, paying an extra $100 per dog at the airport, and transporting the dogs in carriers that met the size standards.

It says that they were put in the fourth row at first.

“An Alaska Airlines flight attendant and another unknown male Alaska Airlines employee asked the Plaintiff and his father to move to aisle 11 of the plane for safety reasons,” the lawsuit says.

The suit says that Contillo said moving the dogs before takeoff would be “extremely dangerous for the dogs.” He said that the dogs were “calm at the moment” but “would not be calm anymore now that the plane was full of people.”

„Moving the dogs right now would make them very tense and excited, which could cause very dangerous breathing and heart problems. “This change could kill a dog, especially just before you go up or down and back again,” it says.

The suit says that the new places Contillo and his father were told to move to were closer to other people and gave the dogs less room to breathe. It says that the workers “ignored everything that was said” and that Contillo finally gave in.

After that, “Ash started breathing very quickly and heavily, with clear anxiety.” According to the lawsuit, Contillo was told to close the carrier, which he did. However, he saw that Ash “stopped moving but could not check on him until after a certain altitude had been reached.”

The complaint says that Ash’s body “was entirely in rigor mortis” when Contillo and his father got off the plane in San Francisco.

It doesn’t really start to hurt dogs until about 4 hours after they die. The flight lasted more than five hours. “The plaintiff and his father both confirmed that Ash was dead and began to cry right away,” it says.

The American Veterinary Medical Association says that dogs with short noses, like pugs and bulldogs, are more likely to die on planes than dogs with muzzles that are the right length. This is because short-nosed types are more likely to have breathing problems. The group says that these kinds of dogs should be in the passenger area.

The suit says that the crew and captain “did not feel sorry for Contillo’s loss of his dog.”

“No one stopped to show comfort, sympathy, or even the tiniest bit of kindness,” it reads.

At the time the case was filed, Contillo said he hadn’t heard from any airline rep about his dog’s death. The complaint says the dog was “like a son to his owner, who did not have children of his own.”

“The Plaintiff’s dog Ash died because of the wrong move.” “Alaskan Airlines workers should have known what they needed to do to keep that from happening,” it says.

Alaska Airlines and Contillo’s lawyers did not react right away to requests for comment.

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