United Airlines flight to STL diverted after a pet was mistakenly loaded onto the flight
Source: KSDK
United Express flight 3996 from Newark to St. Louis diverted to Akron to drop off a pet that had been loaded onto this flight mistakenly. The pet has been safely delivered to its owner. We provided compensation to all customers on board for the diversion.
One of the passengers on the plane was a man with more than 30 years of experience in the aviation industry as a commercial pilot. He tells 5 On Your Side about an hour into the flight the captain told passengers they flight had “miss-boarded cargo” and diverted the flight to Akron. He asked that his name not be used because he still works in the aviation industry.
In Akron, he says passengers saw a pet crate was the only cargo unloaded before the flight took off again for St. Louis.
“It was a poor choice in my estimation…to have done what they did,” based on his “knowledge and experience in the industry” the aviation veteran said.
Read more: http://www.ksdk.com/article/news/united-airlines-flight-to-stl-diverted-after-a-pet-was-mistakenly-loaded-onto-the-flight/63-529262706
= new reply since forum marked as read
A free drink on your next flight? 
and they sent us a $100 credit. I'd hope the compensation for a diversion would be better than that, but who knows - corporate thinking can be mysterious... 
site, it seems that that flight would have been an ERJ-145; maybe that cargo compartment isn't safe for pets, and they wanted it out as soon as possible?
Or they just knee-jerked into action based on all the recent bad press...
