Family Dog Discovered Hiding In Suitcase When Bags Were Overweight At Check-in

Macaulay Culkin was left behind when his family went on vacation, but what if a sequel had been filmed where he’d snuck into the family luggage and wound up checked in the cargo hold instead? That almost happened in real life, but with a chihuahua rather than a child actor.

A family flying from Lubbock, Texas to Las Vegas at Southwest Airlines brought their luggage to the ticket counter to be checked. The agent flagged the bag as overweight. So the couple opened the suitcase to rearrange things in order to avoid overweight bag fees.

And that’s when they discovered the family dog inside.

“She didn’t make a peep, not one sound. We had no clue and as soon as we unzipped it, she just came crawling right out,” said Kristi.

…The couple put the mishap down to the fact that Jared is a last-minute packer and said that before she escaped from their house, Icky was due to be looked after by Kristi’s mom alongside their two other dogs, a rabbit, a fish, and their two children, aged 4 and 8.

“I guess this little burrower just burrowed down in the bottom of it and we never had any clue,” said Jared.

The bag was only 6 pounds overweight and this is the first time passengers have been lucky an airline employee didn’t just let it slide. (After all, baggage scales may not be properly calibrated, and small overages could be a mistake.)

According to Southwest Airlines,

We thank our employee for showing the hospitality that Southwest is known for to everyone – even our four-legged friends!

Southwest’s counter agent thought they “were trying to smuggle the dog” onto the plane to avoid fees. The agent actually “offered to dog-sit for them while they were in Vegas.” But an uncle came to the airport to pick up the dog instead.

(HT: Paul H)

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. The old “let’s play dumb and pretend we didn’t know the dog was inside” excuse. Riiiiiiight.

  2. My guess is the family dog was allegedly screaming and kicking for his way out because he could barely breathe? What a mess I say. I say…I say…what a mess! 😛

  3. When we say “dog”, we refer to a smart animal (German sepherd), a lovable animal that we can hug and kiss at anytime (Golden Retriever), or a smart, loyal yellow lab. This animal is not a dog. Whatever category animal it is, this “thing” looks stupid and very annoying.

  4. how do you not know that a dog is missing before you go on vacation? maybe they have too many pets (hopefully no children).

    that said i don’t see why you would lie and pack a dog in a suitcase. yes i know some people are stupid and maybe see that as a way of avoiding the live animal fees and requirements. but chihuahuas are small enough to put in a carrier under your seat. you must really not love your pet to ship them in a case without food or water. and not love your clothes as others have pointed out.

  5. I have twice found my small dog (but somewhat bigger than the one above) hiding unsuccessfully in my suitcase when I left off packing for a few minutes: “Dont leave me here,I want to come too…”.

    So its not completely implausable that the dog may have been in the case by error, especially as the case was overweight. Anybody smuggling the dog would have been careful to not exceed tha max. weight

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