ATLANTA (AP) -- A caged, 2-inch turtle traveling with a 10-year-old girl caused a crew to turn around a taxiing plane, take the girl and her sisters off the flight and tell them they couldn't bring their pet along.
The sisters threw the animal and cage in the trash and returned to their seats crying Tuesday after AirTran Airways employees on the jetway said they couldn't care for the turtle while their father drove to retrieve it. Two days later, however, Carley Helm was reunited with Neytiri even though at first the family thought the pet was emptied with the trash.
Carley was heading home to Milwaukee after visiting her father in Atlanta with sisters Annie, 13, and Rebecca, 22, when the flap unfolded.
Rebecca said the three were led onto the jetway and told they'd have to get rid of the baby red ear slider -- named Neytiri after the princess in the movie Avatar -- if they wanted to reboard.
I asked, 'What do you mean get rid of it?' and they said throw it away, she said. I was very sad, and I felt bad for my littlest sister because it was her first pet and she was planning to take care of it herself.
Full story with picture: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Tiny-turtle-causes-taxiing-apf-1122992999.html?x=0&.v=1
The sisters threw the animal and cage in the trash and returned to their seats crying Tuesday after AirTran Airways employees on the jetway said they couldn't care for the turtle while their father drove to retrieve it. Two days later, however, Carley Helm was reunited with Neytiri even though at first the family thought the pet was emptied with the trash.
Carley was heading home to Milwaukee after visiting her father in Atlanta with sisters Annie, 13, and Rebecca, 22, when the flap unfolded.
Rebecca said the three were led onto the jetway and told they'd have to get rid of the baby red ear slider -- named Neytiri after the princess in the movie Avatar -- if they wanted to reboard.
I asked, 'What do you mean get rid of it?' and they said throw it away, she said. I was very sad, and I felt bad for my littlest sister because it was her first pet and she was planning to take care of it herself.
Full story with picture: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Tiny-turtle-causes-taxiing-apf-1122992999.html?x=0&.v=1
