I have been shipping and importing dogs from Europe for the last 15 years and this is the first time I have had such a HUGE problem. Delta has 3 different excuses from 3 different places - I have called cargo in JFK and in Fort Lauderdale as well as thie "main" number to talk to a supervisor in their hub office.
I was told completely false info like "no one is there in cargo/customs - they went home early" - Seriously? They are there 24/7! They should not have pulled him from his connecting flight from JFK to FLL, but they did, kept him overnight. I was able to reschedule an early flight the next day (why he was not on an early flight to begin with is beyond me) but then the kennel didn't get him to the airport in time. So they rescheduled the original late flight and worse - THEY NEVER CONTACTED US. The only phone call we got was from JFK cargo HOURS after he should have been in the air to tell us they pulled him - for apparently no good reason.
Then they told us WE had to clear him through customs ourselves (Delta was supposed to do that) and never informed us of the "import fee" (which is usually included in the shipping when you use a service, which we did.
So the whole afternoon was spent clearing the papers and the pup is still on the plane - he will be landing around 7:30 pm...
So I feel awful for the pup. THREE DAYS in transit is UNACCEPTABLE. Delta will certainly be hearing from us. I wasn't worried about his "trauma" from the experience previously, but THREE DAYS? He probably has diarhhea from stress and food/water changes, I hope he bounces back quickly - I will keep you all posted.
Just be CAREFUL using Delta and you really have to be on top of them with connections, etc.
We are really excited to meet him, though - will let you know...
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