United Airlines has third dog-related mishap in a week

United Airlines had another issue with one of its canine travelers.

In the same week that a French bulldog apparently suffocated on a United flight and the airline wrongly sent a German Shepard to Japan, a flight had to be diverted because a pet was put on the wrong plane.

On Thursday, a United Express flight from Newark to St. Louis landed in Akron, Ohio, to bring a pet to its proper destination, an airline spokeswoman, Natalie Noonan, told NJ Advance Media via email Saturday.

The dog was mistakenly loaded on the plane but was later "safely delivered to its owner," she said.

All the passengers who were delayed were compensated for the detour, according to Noonan, but she would not detail how.

It was the third mishap involving a dog this week.

On Monday, a French bulldog apparently died after a flight attendant forced the family to load their dog into an overhead compartment.

Then, days later, the airline sent a German Shepard that was supposed to go to Kansas was sent to Japan.

The 10-year-old German shepherd named Irgo arrived at a Wichita airport Thursday night after a flight on a private plane that United chartered from Japan.

Kara Swindle and her two children took a United flight Tuesday from Oregon to Kansas City, Missouri, during a move to Wichita, Kansas.

When they went to pick up Irgo, they were shown a Great Dane that was supposed to go to Japan.

United said that the dogs were put on the wrong planes when being moved from connecting flights in Denver.

The family was reconnected with their dog on Saturday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Craig McCarthy may be reached at 732-372-2078 or at CMcCarthy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @createcraig and on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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