A dog that was accidentally sent to Japan instead of Kansas City, Missouri, on a United Airlines flight is back home.
The Wichita Eagle reported that Irgo the German shepherd returned to his family on a private charter plane on Thursday. It was a 12-hour flight.
On Tuesday, Kara and Joseph Swindle and their family were moving from Oregon to Kansas and took a United flight to Kansas City. Irgo, their 10-year-old German shepherd, was supposed to be at the airline's cargo area, but he was not there.
The family told KCTV that it was met with a Great Dane dog instead of Irgo. The Great Dane was supposed to be in Japan, but Irgo was sent instead.
Related: United Airlines mistakenly flies dog to Japan instead of Kansas City
Kara Swindle said United Airlines told her it didn’t know how the mistake happened. The airline paid for the family to stay at an airport near the hotel Tuesday.
"An error occurred during connections in Denver for two pets sent to the wrong destinations," a spokesperson for United said in a statement. "We have notified our customers that their pets have arrived safely and will arrange to return the pets to them as soon as possible. We apologize for this mistake and are following up with the vendor kennel where they were kept overnight to understand what happened."
Joseph Swindle told The Wichita Eagle that United Airlines flew Irgo on a private plane to Eisenhower National Airport.
The mix-up is the latest incident involving an animal on a United Airlines flight. On Monday, a dog died when a United flight attendant insisted the dog be placed in an overhead bin.
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