A PASSENGER was ‘left stranded for four days after he was kicked off a flight for travelling with an opossum’.
Gerald Tautenhahn, from California, was travelling to Austin on a JetBlue flight when his pet Zatara caused problems.
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He explained that he was travelling to Texas to see his mum for Thanksgiving, but was concerned about travelling with Zatara.
To avoid any problems, he claimed he did “all the homework” to ensure she could fly.
He told Fox7: “I called the Department of Transportation, cleared it with them.
“Cleared it with JetBlue, they said it was fine.”
While he made the California to Austin flight without any problems, his return flight was where he was told he couldn’t fly with her.
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Gerald continued: “[I had] already boarded the plane sitting on the seat and one of the crew members came up and said hey can I speak with you outside?”
They then told him that he would have to either leave her behind or stay with her but that she wasn’t allowed to fly, which Gerald said was “frustrating” when they let her on the initial flight.
Despite crew “taking pictures and loving the pet” according to his Instagram page, ht was forced to leave the flight.
He was then stuck in Austin for four days, when he was rebooked on another JetBlue flight, only to be told that he still couldn’t fly with her.
He then bought a United Airlines flight home instead, which went smoothly for the pair.
JetBlue explained in a statement to Fox7 that opossums are not allowed: “JetBlue gladly accepts small dogs and cats only in an approved pet carrier.
“On the customer’s return trip, our crew members in Austin witnessed the opossum come out of its carrier and saw that it was not a cat or dog.
“The crew members informed the customer that the opossum would not be able to travel on the flight and worked to assist the customer with his options. “
However, JetBlue’s “Traveling with Pets” page on their website does not mention the rules regarding other animals.
A two-year-old girl’s service dog was kicked off a flight because it was a boxer/bulldog mixed breed which many airlines ban.
Some of the strangest animals spotted on a flight include a kangaroo and a pig.
Sun Online Travel contacted JetBlue for additional comment.
