Man Sues Alaska Airlines After His Dog Died on Their Flight

A San Francisco man has filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Alaska Airlines for negligence and emotional distress after his French Bulldog Ash died on a flight.

On February 1, Michael Contillo was flying from John F. Kennedy (JFK) Airport to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) with his father, four-year-old Ash, and his other dog, Kora. He says in the complaint — provided to Kinship by Contillo’s attorney, James Drake — that his party was asked to move from first class to economy for “safety purposes” just before the plane took off. Contillo says that upon this change, Ash became very anxious, leading to breathing issues during the flight. By the time they landed, Ash was dead.

The details of the case

Per Contillo’s filed complaint, his dog carriers complied with the airlines’ requirements — as reported by Kinship here, which state that the first class cabin can accommodate a total of three dog carriers. Contillo said in the complaint that he bought in-cabin dog spaces ahead of his flight and paid the airline’s fee of $100 per dog. He also stated that he took his dogs for a full health exam at a veterinary office in New York City prior to travel.

Per the complaint, when he was asked to move, Contillo told Alaska staff why that would be difficult: “He further explained that the dog was calm at the moment but would not be calm anymore now that the plane was full of people. To move the dogs now would make them very anxious and excited, which would lead to extremely dangerous breathing and heart problems. This change could be lethal for a dog, especially right before you change altitudes.”

Contillo also said that he was told he had to keep the dogs’ carriers closed while the plane was taking off and wasn’t allowed to check on the dog until a certain altitude. The complaint states: “By the time [Contillo] and his father deboarded the plane at the San Francisco International Airport, Ash’s body was entirely in rigor mortis.”

“They see our dead dog. They see me crying. Not a single one of them stops to offer any help or condolences,” Contillo told online news outlet  Silicon Valley. He added: “One of the crew members loudly stated, ‘Now you’re going to blame us for killing your dog.’”

Contillo previously flew with his dogs on Alaska in first class from San Francisco to New York in November 2023, without incident. Contillo’s attorney, James Drake of Drake Law Group, tells Kinship that the airline refused to agree to the proposed settlement. Kinship also reached out to Alaska Airlines for comment; the airline told us they “don’t comment on litigation.”

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“All he wanted to do was be able to take a trip with his father and his two pets and have a great time back East, where he’s originally from, and this happened,” Drake tells Kinship. He adds that Alaska wanted to get a statement from Contillo, but that the dog dad was busy trying to handle the fact that his dog had just died.

“You’re not gonna give a statement with your dead animal in the middle of the airport ... I have a sneaking suspicion that they know that things probably could have been done better and hey, an apology and maybe some changes to prevent something like this from happening in the future, that’s all we really want,” he tells us. “But now that we’re here and they’re just trying to stonewall us, we have no choice but to [file a lawsuit.].”

Lisa Milot, an expert in animal welfare law and professor at the University of Georgia School of Law, tells Kinship that “the law with respect to companion animals is in flux” and that she has hope that cases like this make a difference in affecting change in the future.

She adds: “Pet owners are generally in a better position to know of anxiety, physical conditions, or other factors that might put their particular animal at higher risk than the typical animal, or higher risk than airline staff might anticipate.”

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Health issues for brachycephalic breeds

Both of Contillo’s dogs are French Bulldogs, which is what’s known as a brachycephalic (meaning “short or broadhead”) breed. These are dogs who have flat faces and as a result, can have breathing issues, called brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS). This makes vet care and monitoring, which Contillo said his dogs received prior to their flight, very important.

“Dogs with brachycephalic syndrome have really small nostrils and a really long soft palate that hangs back and obstructs the airways,” veterinarian Dr. Jamie Freyer told us in 2022. “So, they are breathing in air through a small opening, and then when the breath gets to the back of their throat, it reaches another obstacle, which makes breathing in general hard. And that difficulty breathing can, in part, lead to concerns around heat stroke, heart problems, and other issues.”

Veterinarian Dr. Gabrielle Fadl says that her heart goes out to Contillo and his family as they mourn the loss of Ash, and while she can’t speak to this specific case, she has some general advice for people who travel with brachycephalic dogs, including speaking to a vet to ask if the dog might need a sedative to help minimize stress or anxiety in the airport or on a flight.

“Any amount of stress in a brachycephalic breed is exponentially worse than that of a non-flat-faced breed, and therefore I always err towards a sedative to prevent it from happening rather than having to deal with it in the moment because it does escalate very quickly,” she says. “Any travel that can relate to stress or any changes in their day-to-day routine can be concerning ... I know a lot of brachycephalic breeds that, when they come to the vet we give them a sedative so they don’t get worked up when we’re examining them.”

Dr. Fadl adds that, in general, altitude can be an issue for dogs who have heart conditions (though as far as the complaint states, this was not the case for Ash). “Changes in altitude can potentially cause hemodynamic stress, and a dog with a history of heart failure or heart enlargement, then you would be a little worried,” she says. “Do we have dogs with heart disease travel via plane? Yes, but you want to consider a sedative to reduce stress, which may, in turn, worsen or exacerbate underlying heart issues.”

References:

Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS)