As mentioned last week, I wanted to make bird lovers aware of how "bird-unfriendly" American Airlines has become. Last February I attempted to travel with my Eclectus, and the result was a disaster - even though I am a Platinum Aadvantage Member. Following this incident, I wrote a press release in hopes of getting the media interested in this injustice:
*******MEDIA ADVISORY******
Contact: Carol Frank
AMERICAN AIRLINES REFUSES TO FLY PET PARROT, CITES “AVIAN BIRD INFLUENZA”.
Carol Frank, president of Avian Adventures, was refused service at American Airlines the morning of February 21, 2007 as she and her pet parrot, Murphy Green, tried to fly to
She was handed a policy dated March 9, 2006 which states “American and American Eagle will no longer accept birds as carry-on or checked pets. This change in policy is due to new regulations and concerns about diseases transmitted by birds, most recently avian bird influenza. Customers needing to transport a bird should be referred to Cargo.”
There has not been a single documented case in the U.S of someone catching avian influenza through a bird of any kind, much less a pet parrot that has never had contact with a wild bird.
Murphy Green, Carol’s beloved 13 year-old parrot , has appeared in numerous TV shows including the Oprah Winfrey Show, and last year’s Global Pet special on HGTV. He has traveled on over 60 flights and until today has never been refused boarding.
This policy was generated by ignorance and misinformation. The media frenzy surrounding “Bird Flu” has caused great harm to the pet bird trade because people were mistakenly led to believe that they can get this deadly virus through any type of birds, including pet birds that have never had contact with the outside world.
Carol and Murphy have been a team together at over 50 pet industry trade shows since 1994. In addition, Carol is a professional speaker and the author of “Do As I Say, Not as I Did: Gaining Wisdom in Business through the Mistakes of Highly Successful People.” Carol’s message includes the importance of being passionate about following your business dreams and Murphy is an integral part of her message.
2 comments:
This is not surprising. A tremendous amount of misinformation has been put forward about bird flu and undoubtedly some industry leaders have not bothered to learn the actual facts. Bird flu is a disese primarily found in intensively farmed commercial poultry operations in other countries, not in the USA, and definitely NOT in pet birds housed in homes. Ignorance is no excuse. American Airlines needs to contact knowledgeable scientists who can reassure them that bird flu cannot be contracted from pet birds who NEVER have contact with commercial poultry or wild birds!
I just went and checked; it's been almost two years and American Airlines still won’t allow birds in the cabin. In fact birds aren’t allowed at all; only dogs and cats. This makes absolutely no sense. No one has ever caught the bird flu from a domestic bird. I bought my Poquito travel cage for this very purpose. It's so frustrating. When will they learn? It takes virtually no research to discover that domestic birds are not a treat.
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