Delta Passenger's Missing Dog Found Safe After 3 Weeks At US Airport

After nearly a month of anxiety, a passenger's dog was found at an Atlanta airport three weeks after Delta Air Lines lost it. Delta Air Lines passenger Paula Rodriguez's 6-year-old dog named Maia was lost in August at the airport.

According to airport officials, Maia was found by the airport's operations team hiding near the north cargo facilities. "Tired but in apparent good health, she was transported to a vet and is expected to return home soon," airport officials wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Maia, the dog who escaped onto the airfield at the world's busiest airport, was recovered on September 9. ATL's Operations team found her hiding near the North Cargo facilities. Tired but in apparent good health, she was transported to a vet and is expected to return home soon. pic.twitter.com/eNbM6us1BW

— Atlanta Airport (@ATLairport) September 10, 2023

According to a CNN report, the mishap began when Ms Rodriguez and Maia were heading on a two-week vacation to California from their home in the Dominican Republic. However, when they arrived in Atlanta for a layover, Ms. Rodriguez was informed by border patrol that her visa did not meet the necessary requirements and told her she would need to return home on the next flight.

Ms Rodriguez was separated from her pet dog and was informed that she had to spend the night alone in the detention center to await a flight to Punta Cana the following day. "They called a Delta agent, who took Maia from me," Ms Rodriguez told CNN.

The next day, she arrived at her flight's gate early, eagerly awaiting her reunion with her pooch. But Maia never arrived. Ms Rodriguez was forced to board the next flight because of her visa issue.

"Everyone who knows me knows what she means to me," Rodriguez said. "I don't go anywhere without her. She's so well-behaved that I take her to restaurants, literally everywhere. She's my partner in everything."

Two days after Maia went missing, a Delta representative contacted Ms Rodriguez to share unfortunate news. "He said that she was being transported (to the plane) on the runway, and staff had opened her kennel, and she had escaped into the middle of the runway," she told CNN.

Since Rodriguez's tourist visa was cancelled, she sent her mother to Atlanta to help search for the dog.

Weeks went by without any updates from Delta until the good news came this past weekend.