Milo is missing. Lufthansa says it is doings its best to find him. But how did he get lost in the first place?
Last week, Molly McFadden travelled with her two cats, Milo and Beau, on Lufthansa from Munich (MUC) to Washington Dulles (IAD). Both cats made it safely to IAD. Somewhere between Milo being unloaded and delivered to the baggage claim hall, the cat carrier was damaged and Milo escaped.
When McFadden reached the baggage hall, she noticed that Beau’s crate was still locked but Milo’s crate was empty. The cage door was pushed in and the latches had fallen off. A waiting member of Lufthansa ground staff was also present to try to clam her.
At first, the representative said they believed the cat escaped onboard and were currently searching the Airbus A340-600 aircraft for Milo. But it was soon determined the cat escaped somewhere on the tarmac.
For its part, Lufthansa promised it was doing its best to locate the cat. A spokesperson said “the highest attention” has been placed on the matter, telling USA Today:
They have been searching for Milo and have sent out emails to the airline community at Dulles Airport, members of the various authorities there, including ground handlers as well as other airlines, asking for assistance in the search. Our team has also posted flyers created by the customer at different locations of the ramp area. The search for Milo continues and our ground staff are in close touch with the passenger, who is being updated regularly.
And being Lufthansa, the spokesperson could not resist a bit of defensive language on safety:
At this stage, we are working right alongside the owner in terms of looking for Milo. The safety of the animals that we transport is always of our utmost concern and we certainly abide by each and every safety measure.
How Did This Happen?
The “utmost concern” safety language truly rings as hollow when a kitty carrier is damaged on the tarmac to such an extent a cat escapes…and the baggage handler does not even notice until it was too late.
If you do happen to run into Milo, I’ve posted his image below.
CONCLUSION
Stories like this confirm in my mind that I would never allow my pet to be transported in the cargo hold of a plane. If even safety-conscious Lufthansa can lose a cat, there is no way I would even consider checking in an animal I truly cared about.
@ Matthew — This story breaks my heart. If this happened to our Vladimir, I would be devastated. I hope Milo is located soon.
He is scared ss air planes jets make alot of noise,
AIRLINES NEED TO FIND HIM OR PAY DEARLY BECAUSE OF LOSS
ALL THAT LOVE GONE MISSING
DO NOT GIVE UP
OUR PRAYERS GOR YOU AND MILO !!!!
I agree, I would never put a pet in cargo. I would buy two seats to have the room to take both of them as cabin baggage/under the seat transport. Not knowing it’s location/condition is almost worse than if it had died. I hope Milo is found and returned to the family.
Not always an option on non-US carriers.
I have travel several times with my 2 Wire Fox Terriers, Nori and Nanuk from Newark NJ to Frankfurt and conecting flight to Barcelona and everything went perfectly well.
Lufthansa provides excellent service.
Sorry for Milo I hope you find Milo soon.
Patricia Arguelles and Hanspeter Ackermann
Poor kitty and owner. Airlines are not sufficiently careful with pets; these are much-loved and treasured family members.
Uhm… No one scrutinize baggage handler &/ ground crews? Instead simply put everything on the German Airlines? Oh well…. Its easier to close eyes and blame someone from other [nationality/ethnicity/religion/social class/etc., You fill the blanks].
Very constructive journalism! Thumbs up! Keep up the excellent works!
The customer trusted Lufthansa with Milo’s wellbeing, not the contract ramp crew, baggage guy or anyone else.
Lufthansa holds overall responsibility. You don’t need to bring nationality, ethnicity, religion or anything else into the matter. Milo was tendered to Lufthansa, Lufthansa is responsible.
…but nice try.
Is it because cat is human being and luggage doesn’t have feeling, so that cat is “trusted” on Lufthansa whereas bags and suitcases were only an item so the responsibility may exchanged easily and nobody cares?
*Yeah I know cat is nowhere near human, bit seeing the responds above, I don’t want to trigger who made love with animals….
They need to find out who was working the ramp of that flight and discipline them and find out what the hell they were doing to leave luggage in such poor condition. If the cat transport was that significantly damaged to the point it’s latches came off, I would be concerned about the condition of the poor cat being held inside it.
What an absolute outrage.
I really hope they find this poor cat…though the odds of him being found probably aren’t that good. Seems whoever handles their ground luggage handling needs a refresher course.