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Flight attendant didn't know doomed dog was in bag placed in overhead bin, United says

United Airlines said the incident where a dog died on a flight out of Texas was "a tragic accident that should never have occurred, as pets should never be placed in the overhead bin."

Updated at 8 p.m. March 14: Revised to include a letter to United from Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy.

A French bulldog puppy died Monday night on a flight out of Texas after a flight attendant told its owner that the dog's bag needed to be placed in the overhead compartment.

June Lara, a passenger on United Airlines Flight 1284 from Houston to New York, wrote on Facebook that he was seated behind a family of three who had brought 10-month-old Kokito along with them.

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But Lara was surprised when a flight attendant said the pup's carrier should be placed in the overhead compartment.

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"They INSISTED that the puppy be locked up for three hours without any kind of airflow," he wrote. "They assured the safety of the family's pet so wearily, the mother agreed."

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When the flight landed at LaGuardia airport nearly 3½ hours later and the family opened Kokito's kennel, the puppy wasn't moving or making any sounds. Lara wrote that he held the woman's baby as she tried to revive the pup.

"She's like, 'He died, he died. Kokito, Kokito. And he didn't wake up,'" Sophia Ceballos, whose family owned the dog, told Houston television station KTRK-TV. "She hit his chest so he could breathe, but he couldn't breathe."

Lara wrote that the situation was agonizing.

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"I cried with them three minutes later as she sobbed over his lifeless body, he wrote. "My heart broke with theirs as I realized he was gone."

Another passenger, Maggie Gremminger, posted on Twitter that she heard the dog barking during the flight but assumed the overhead bins were ventilated.

"We didn't know it was barking a cry for help," she wrote.

Gremminger told Buzzfeed that a flight attendant appeared to be upset by the incident.

"She said that she did not know there was a dog in the bag, and if so she never would have instructed it to be put in the bin above," she said.

Ceballos and her mother, Catalina Robledo, insist that the flight attendant knew there was a dog in the bag.

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"While we were flying, the dog started barking and barking, and there was no flight attendants coming," Ceballos told KTRK. "We couldn't stand up because there was a lot of turbulence, so we weren't allowed to."

United said in a statement Wednesday that the flight attendant "did not hear or understand [the passenger, and did not knowingly place the dog in the overhead bin."

The airline said the incident was "a tragic accident that should never have occurred, as pets should never be placed in the overhead bin."

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"We assume full responsibility for this tragedy and express our deepest condolences to the family and are committed to supporting them," the statement said. "We are thoroughly investigating what occurred to prevent this from ever happening again."

United's pet policy says that animals that travel in the cabin must fit in small kennels that fit beneath a seat. The airline charges $125 each way for in-cabin pets.

Airline spokesman Charles Hobart said United refunded the family's tickets and pet fee and offered to pay for a necropsy.

The airline also plans to start giving out brightly colored bag tags for people to place on their in-cabin pet carriers in the near future.

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In 2017, 18 animals died on United flights, according to data from the Department of Transportation. Six animals died on all other U.S. carriers combined.

In a letter sent to United's president, Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy demanded an explanation for the number of animals that have died in the airlines' care.

"This pattern of animal deaths and injuries is simply inexcusable," Kennedy said. "For many people, pets are members of the family. They should not be treated like insignificant cargo. Frankly, they shouldn't be placed in the cargo hold much less an overhead bin."

Kennedy said in a tweet that he plans to file a bill Thursday that would prohibit airlines from putting animals in overhead bins. Violators would be punished with "significant fines," he said.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.