A dog died on a United Airlines plane after the flight attendant insisted it be placed in the overhead locker.
The French bulldog was travelling with its owner from Houston to New York on Monday.
Eyewitnesses said the dog's owner was told to put the pet, which was inside an airline-approved carrier, into the locker. According to the BBC, the attendant later said she didn't know the bag contained a dog.
The airline has released a statement to say it takes 'full responsibility' for the dog's death.
In a statement to the BBC a spokesperson said: "We assume full responsibility for this tragedy and express our deepest condolences to the family and are committed to supporting them.
"We are thoroughly investigating what occurred to prevent this from ever happening again. Pets should never be placed in the overhead bin."
United's policy states, "a pet travelling in cabin must be carried in an approved hard-sided or soft-sided kennel.
"The kennel must fit completely under the seat in front of the customer and remain there at all times."
Maggie Gremminger, who says she was sat behind the dog's owner told travel site One Mile at a Time: "I witnessed a United flight attendant instruct a woman to put her dog carrier with live dog in an overhead bin.
"The passenger adamantly pushed back, sharing verbally that her dog was in the bag.
"The flight attendant continued to ask the passenger to do it, and she eventually complied.
"By the end of the flight, the dog was dead. The woman was crying in the airplane aisle on the floor."
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She also took to social media to share a photo of the heart-broken woman and her daughter, writing that she was 'heart-broken' for the pair.
This isn't the first time the airline has come into criticism over dogs dying during flights; early last year it was revealed that more pets died on-board United Airline flights than any other major US airline in 2016.
Data released last April showed that nine pets died and 14 more were injured during 2016, in total 109,149 were transported with United.
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By comparison Delta had five pet deaths and five injuries (from 81,070 pets transported) and Alaska Airlines had two deaths and one injury (after transporting 112,281 pets). You can check out the full statistics from the Department of Transportation here.
Business Insider did the stats on those figures and found that United's track record for pet deaths and/or injuries is around .02 percent, whereas Delta's is .01 percent - so it's still pretty safe to fly with your pet.
A spokesperson told Business Insider: "We have some of the best facilities for taking care of customer pets.
"We keep customers informed and consider pets customers as well because we understand pets are part of our customers' family."
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Source: BBC; New York Post
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: United Airlines, US News