I came across an interesting tweet from BBC Travel about an article from Bloomberg.com.

Ever wonder how many animals die on airlines each year? I can’t say that it’s something that has ever crossed my mind before… However, the Department of Transportation keeps track/ records of these occurrences and shared their findings in its February Consumer Air Travel Report.

According to the report, airlines are required “to file reports with the Department concerning incidents involving the loss, injury or death of animals during air transportation“.

In fact, every month airlines are required to file a report if there is a loss, injury or death of a pet.

There were 45 total incidents involving pets in 2014. Of the 45 incidents, 17 were deaths, 26 injuries and two losses.

When it came to animal deaths and incidents, United came out on top with 19. During United flights there were 5 deaths, 13 injuries and 1 loss.

Alaska had the second most total incidents and Delta had the second most deaths  on a flight.

There was a link to the actual reports filed for each incident with the name of the pet owner removed.

I was curious to see what one of these reports looked like and what information is provided by the airline. Some of the info included is carrier, flight #, a description of the animal (including breed, age & name), the incident, cause of incident and corrective action taken.

Here is a copy of a United report:

After looking over a bunch of these reports, it seems like most animals died of natural causes on flights. Many of the injuries were caused by the animals to themselves, mainly due to trying to get out of their kennel, some even escaping.

Have any of you flown with a pet? If so, was the animal stowed or kept with you during the flight?

Check out some other details in the Bloomberg article here.

If you’re interested in seeing the Air Travel Consumer Report, click here.