JetBlue Flight Crew Administer Oxygen to Distressed Dog During Flight

A family traveling by plane with their dog credit their quick-acting JetBlue flight crew for saving the life of their French Bulldog when she became distressed mid-air.

Michele and Steven Burt were flying from Florida to Massachusetts on Thursday with Darcy, their 3-year old French Bulldog, resting in her carrier beneath the seat in front of them.

When Darcy began pushing up against her carrier and panting heavily, Michele opened the carrier and discovered Darcy’s tongue was blue and she was struggling to breathe. That’s when JetBlue flight attendants rushed to save the pup mid-flight.

“I pulled her out from under the seat and placed her on my lap to cool down and help her relax as she was panicking and breathing frantically.” Burt said in a letter to the airline. Flight attendants Renaud Fenster and Diane Asher came to Darcy’s aid by bringing her bags of ice. The Frenchie was still having trouble breathing, so Spencer brought over a small oxygen tank with a mask.

“I placed the mask over her face, and within a few minutes she became alert and after a short time she didn’t want the mask,” Michele told ABC News. “I believe Renaud and Diane saved a life, some may reduce the value of the life because Darcy is a canine, I do not.”

“I was passing through the cabin to check up on a passenger, and I noticed [another] passenger, who had the dog out of her crate and the dog had an indication that it wasn’t looking too well. … And I believe the dog passed out,” Fenster told Good Morning America in a Monday interview. “The dog started panting very rapidly and uncontrollably, and so as a French bulldog owner myself, I knew the dog was overheating and needed some ice. I brought the dog some ice, and that didn’t do anything.

“I decided that we needed to consider using oxygen to support the animal,” he continued. “So I called the captain, and I told him, ‘I think I need to use some oxygen,’ and he said, ‘Go ahead.’ And right then and there, placed the oxygen on the dog and the dog revived like nothing else.”

“We all are affected by cabin pressure and oxygen fluctuations, human, canine and feline, etc., but the fact that the Attendants were responsive and attentive to the situation may have saved Darcy’s life,” Burt wrote on her Facebook page.

“We all want to make sure everyone has a safe and comfortable fight, including those with four legs,” JetBlue said in a statement. “We’re thankful for our crew’s quick thinking and glad everyone involved was breathing easier when the plane landed in Worcester.”