Darcy the French Bulldog showed signs of discomfort during a JetBlue flight with owner Michelle Burt, and when the pup’s tongue started to turn blue, it became clear that Darcy was in danger. Her blue tongue indicated that she was suffering from hypoxia, a condition caused by a lack of oxygen in the body. Luckily for Darcy, the dog-loving JetBlue flight attendants acted quickly.
Diane Asher and Renaud Fenster, the attendants/heroes of this story, saw that Darcy faced a potentially life-threatening condition. As a fellow Frenchie owner, Renaud knew that short-snouted (brachycephalic) dogs sometimes suffer from breathing issues and recognized the symptoms in Darcy. Without help, the French Bulldog could have suffocated, so the flight attendants provided Darcy with an oxygen mask. After a few breaths, Darcy felt much better. The pup made it through the rest of the flight, safe and sound, and even though the situation was very serious, Darcy looked quite cute in that mask.
Too often we hear stories of airlines mishandling and mistreating their canine passengers. American Airlines has a history of responding poorly to the needs of those who rely on service dogs, and United Airlines received backlash earlier this year when a flight attendant ordered a passenger to put a puppy–coincidentally also a French Bulldog–into an overhead compartment, resulting in the dog’s death. Just a week later, the airline mistakenly shipped a dog to Japan instead of the intended destination of Kansas.
It’s nice to hear a positive story about an airline giving appropriate treatment to their passenger’s precious pooch. I don’t personally travel with my dog on planes, but if I had to, I’d be far more likely to choose an airline with a positive record when it comes to handling pets. Good for JetBlue. Hopefully other airlines will take note and hire more dog lovers as flight attendants, or at least train employees to treat dogs well.
What do you think airlines should do to make sure dogs are treated well on flights? Are you happy to see that Darcy made it to her destination safely? Let us know in the comments below!
