#N12BK: Family dog dies after airline forces pet inside overhead bin

<p>A dog died on a United Airlines flight from Houston to New York after a flight attendant ordered the animal's owner to place the dog inside the plane's overhead compartment bin.</p>

News 12 Staff

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Mar 14, 2018, 3:48 PM

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Updated 2,463 days ago

A dog died on a United Airlines flight from Houston to New York after a flight attendant ordered the animal's owner to place the dog inside the plane's overhead compartment bin.

Witnesses say a flight attendant forced the owner to put the French bull dog into overhead storage, even though the passenger refused.

The flight attendant later claimed she didn't know a dog was inside of the carrier.

Passengers claim the dying dog could be heard barking and crying while it eventually suffocated inside the overhead bin.

United issued a statement calling the death a "tragic accident."

Last April, United made headlines after a video surfaced of a doctor being violently removed and dragged from a flight for refusing to get off of the plane because there was no room.

Dr. Dao suffered a concussion, broken teeth and a broken nose as a result of the incident.

Three weeks later, a rabbit worth over $2,000 died on a flight to Chicago

In August, a flight from Houston was delayed for two hours due to weather and the air conditioning system malfunctioned, killing a dog in the plane's cargo hold.

The U.S. Department of Transportation says 24 animals died on U.S. planes in 2017.

They say 18 of the deaths happened on United flights.