A woman is looking for answers after her dog was misplaced at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. According to the New York Post the woman was offered $1,800 by Delta and the woman’s lawyer says that the offer is an “insult.”
Paula Rodriquez was trying to make it to San Francisco from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on August 18 but then she was detained by Customs and Border Patrol at the Atlanta airport because of her missing visa credentials. Eventually, authorities decided that Rodriguez would not be allowed to enter the country, and told her to stay at a detention center overnight where she couldn’t bring her dog until she could board a flight back to the Dominican Republic. So following the incident, Delta promised to take good care of Rodriquez’s dog as she awaited her next flight back home.
RELATED: Dog Left Shaken After Allegedly Being Given Meth By A Teenager
Well unfortunately, once the next day came and Rodriquez was going to board her flight, Delta told her that her dog was gone and nowhere to be found. Due to US regulations, officers told Rodriguez that she couldn’t stay and look for her dog so she willingly boarded the flight without her dog, hoping that Delta would give her a call and say they found her dog and put it on the next flight out, but the dog wasn’t found. “She’s been missing for more than 72 hours in the biggest airport in the United States,” Rodriguez told Atlanta News First in an August 22 report. “Without food, without water, she must be scared.”
Now that it has been more than two weeks, Delta has said in a statement that its $1,800 gesture is not an “offer of compensation” and insisted they “have shown empathy through many actions, gestures and communications with our customer.”
Deferring their attorneys, the airline added that it “remains heartbroken” over the matter. In the meantime, Daniela Rodriguez, Paula’s sister, has launched a fund-raiser “with the sincere aim of raising funds to cover the expenses to get the best resources available to try and locate Maia.”
RELATED: Man Leaves Dog With A Swollen Black Eye After Violently Punching The Dog In The Face
She writes: “Now, we are forced to take matters into our own hands. This horrific situation has left my sister sleepless, with constant panic attacks and no appetite. I do not want her to get worse. That is why we have resorted to the thousands of people who have [shown] us their support since the story came out in the news. Maia and Paula need hope, we all do. Hope that they will be together again.”“This is a time for humans, strangers to come together against all odds of a multi-billion dollar airline not claiming responsibility for their actions,” wrote Daniela. “We need to take action.”