[bilingual]

Originally Posted by dss5staf

I shipped a champion American Staffordshire Terrier to Louisville, Ky on Saturday November 30th in cargo without any problems they knew at the time the dog was supposed to be shipped out today (Monday Dec 2nd) as excess baggage for a dog show in Barcelona, Spain. When the handler got to the reservation desk to check in the agent stated that Rumble (the dog) couldn't fly because he was considered a snub nose breed. On their website Amstaffs are not on the banned list this is what the website states: We no longer accept brachycephalic, snub-nosed or mixed breeds of snub-nosed animals when the "Breed" on the Health Certificate states the following:

Dogs Affenpinscher, Boston Terrier, Boxer (All breeds), Brussels Griffon, Bulldog (All breeds), Cane Corso, Dogue De Bordeaux, English Toy Spaniel, Japanese Chin, Lhasa Apso, Mastiff (All breeds), Pekingese, Pit Bull, Presa Canario, Pug (All breeds), Shar Pei, Shih Tzu, Tibetan Spaniel

As you can see American Staffordshire Terrier isn't listed. A agent there didn't seem to think any other explanation was necessary just he was a snub nosed breed so not allowed on the plane. So now not only out entry fee, 150.00 worth of health certificates (domestic and international along with usda stamp) shipping dog from NC to Ky and the fees to the handler since he has to be paid regardless if he shows the dog or not all because of one agent not knowing the difference in breeds. I contacted AA Customer Relations and talked to several depts requesting a supervisor but they would not connect me to one instead they talked to their help desk and the last person I spoke with Yvette Smith basically told me any time a agent doesn't want to ship a dog they don't have to so if say the handler and the dog would have flown to Miami where they had a layover if that agent wanted to say the dog couldn't have flown he would have been stranded there. With all the big dog shows coming up there is a lot of people flying dogs across the country and in and out of the country for shows so a lot of money for the airlines and money spent in general. When you book the flight you tell them the breed so if there is a issue they should deny the reservation at that point. If he was flown on Saturday with this airline what changed from that time until today? I was even told by this Yvette she couldn't guarantee I could even get the dog shipped home by this airline. So not happy with the airline and making sure the dog show community is aware of the circumstances as well. I may have lost over 1000.00 because of this airline today but hoping to cause the airlines to lose more than that with people opting for other airlines due to the bad customer service.

American Staffordshire Terrier is a breed itself between Bulldog and Terrier, so the AA argument is correct.