Ailidh

Do you mean your American colleagues were able to get access to baggage reclaim (or you just happened to meet up with them as they were in the same plane?). If my sister and brother-in-law could get through to us at baggage reclaim, that would be an enormous help. The only outsized baggage we've ever arrived with has been golf clubs, so I don't know how the dogs' crates will arrive. If they're just on the ground, it will be impossible to get them onto a trolley - however big or close to the ground - now if they both arrive on a trolley, that'll be easier. Yikes! This is going to be horrific..

So the Lufthansa will definitely arrive at Terminal E then? My sister and b-in-law will spend the night at the Marriott in the airport to check things out, but the confusion between D and E has me worried.

My husband is only arriving just before Christmas, he has to be present for the house closing here and we have to keep his presence under the 90 days, so the later he starts his stay, the better it is. Our daughter is currently in a wheelchair (which will be helpful at least for placing our rather tubby cat and her carrybag in her lap). We'll be a sight to behold!

tanith

They must have been on the plane. If there was an open route for people to come in and help you, people would be able to circumvent customs - it's normally a 1 way thing with no access to the outside.

Mr Weeze

I mean we were on the same flight, they went through the (faster) citizens immigration queue, I went through as normal, and I actually saw them on the other side of immigration waiting for bags. I generally assume that once I get off the plane any US citizens will be long gone before me, because they are generally a bit faster through immigration.

Don't be confused by D and E - they are connected by a bridge. When you want to depart you check in at terminal D. When you arrive you leave from terminal E. The plane is parked in the same place - where it can access terminal D AND terminal E. For your sister picking you up it is the difference between bearing left for terminal E vs. right for terminal D. It's simply the difference between departures and arrivals. If you park in the car park above E you will pay $3.00 minimum, plus with the amount of stuff you have it may be multiple lift loads, which is why I suggest her parking and then you calling - it may be easier that way.

I can only speak for our experience, but the dog was waiting on a trolley. However, there are lots of porters/skycaps hanging around with very big flat trolleys who will be there to help. When we had 6 cases, a dog and a child in a push chair all the cases fit on the big flat one, the dog was already on a trolley and one of us carried the child.

Ailidh

We arrived yesterday. One dog was OK, though overheated. The other one didn't get delivered. I frantically searched to get a Lufthansa agent to check where the other dog was. I got the run-around for the better part of the hour till finally a man who appeared to be in charge of Lufthansa cargo showed up to tell me the other dog was dead. I asked where she was. He said she had been unloaded next to the plane. I suppose she had been lying there for over an hour since our arrival, the temperature was 27 degrees C. I asked to see her. Another hour went by before she was delivered. She was ice-cold, her tissues were hard as rock, she was very stiff. I thought she must have died very soon after our departure, and rigor mortis set in. The Lufthansa agent said she had been seen by the vet and the CDC and the death was attributed to natural causes. She was 10, a large breed and taking heart meds.

My daughter and I were of course crying our eyes out and not thinking straight. My sister and brother-in-law had come to meet us, but immigration would not let them come through.

The Lufthansa agent told me that she would be incinerated and they would send the crate on to me.

Only afterwards, I spoke to a vet who found the fact she seemed to be that cold suspicious. I am thinking they put her (very large crate) not in the pressurized part of the baggage hold and that she may have frozen to death. When we made our connection in Frankfurt and arrived at the gate, I overheard the gate agent and a man who seemed to be in charge of baggage and just caught the word "hund". I then asked if our two dogs had been transferred. They seemed disturbed by my question and the baggage handler said "the dog is in" - I asked about both the dogs and if they were both in and he said yes. I am wondering if on the first leg she had in fact been loaded into a non-pressurized compartment.

I have been trying all day to get in touch with Lufthansa and to ask for the name and phone of the vet who said she died of natural causes - it is impossible to get through to anybody at IAH, let alone Lufthansa.

Does anyone know the number for Lufthansa at IAH? I was given a phone number and it rings 'busy' all day long. Does anyone know if there is a veterinary service at IAH and how to reach them? I even called CDC in Atlanta to ask for the number of their agent at IAH and they said they don't have an agent at IAH.

Please help if you can!
Thanks

Flabound oneday

i cant help but wanted to say sorry for your loss. Its a worry transporting a pet and your experience sounds awful

we brought our 130lb mastiff in via MIA. it was a nightmare. we had to pick him up from cargo which is off the airport and in the sh1t ar5e end of Miami.
he arrived nearly an hour after landing. he was kept in a crate with no water (his bottle had broken) and he could see us but we 'couldnt cross the yellow line'....we had to wait for the paperwork, why it didnt come with him god knows. it finally arrived after another 45 minutes. I then had to drive round to customs ,who couldnt have been less helpful. DEsk 1 'go over there' points>. Desk 2 woman with severe attitude 'it aint me -go back to desk 1'
Desk 1. It IS her...walks over with me and tells her...she grunts, demands my papers, stamps them (takes 10 seconds) and throws them back at me.....a55hole.

drive back and finally we can get him out the crate and give him food and water nealry 3 hours after landing........................


however,once again sympathies for your loss..........

Weeze

Oh no. So sorry for you.

yellowroom

I'm afraid I can't help at all with the practicalities but just wanted to say how sorry I am. What a terrible, terrible experience for you. My condolences for your loss.

I agree it does sound that you have reason to follow this up and find out just what happened. For a start I would want to know why they couldn't release the body to you so you could arrange your own post mortem and cremation. The cynical side of me thinks you were getting the run around for an hour while they were getting their story straight (ice cold body?). And then taken advantage of you being in too much shock to press for answers.

I hope you get answers soon and your dog and memories of him can rest in peace.

N1cky

So very sorry

Mr Weeze

Really sorry to read that.

It may sound an odd way, but I have found contacting an airline via twitter to be extremely responsive before. It looks like lufthansa are on twitter and they seem to monitor and respond to it pretty promptly.

N1cky

Oh good idea, facebook is also very effective.

tanith

The best advice I could give you is to join flyertalk.com - lots of their members have inside knowledge of the airline and may have a better number for you to call.

I would like to say how sorry I am for your loss and especially for the way in which it happened. Good luck with your search for answers.