CHICAGO, May 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — United Airlines today announced it will be working with American Humane, the country’s first national humane animal organization, to improve the well-being of all pets that travel on United. American Humane has been working to improve the safety, welfare and well-being of the world’s animals for more than 140 years.

United also announced that it will resume operations for PetSafe�, the carrier’s program for cats and dogs that travel in the cargo compartment, later this summer. The airline continues to review all pet handling processes and policies, including in-cabin pet travel. United is identifying new policies, updating training and customer requirements, and implementing these changes to improve the safety of the pet travel experience. For customers looking for more up-to-date information and important tips to help them further ensure the comfort of their pets during travel, please visit www.united.com/petsafe.

“American Humane has long been known and respected for setting the gold standard of animal welfare,” said Jan Krems, United’s vice president of cargo. “We look forward to a long-term collaboration and appreciate their expertise in helping us further improve our service on an ongoing and continual basis. As we continue our review process to ensure that we are always doing what’s right, we are committed to making significant improvements in our program and adhering to the best practices of animal comfort, well-being and travel on behalf of our customers and their pets.”

“Transporting pets introduces a variety of risks and when United approached us, we knew we had to take on the challenge of helping improve and ensure the health, safety and comfort of so many animals,” said Dr. Robin Ganzert, American Humane’s president and chief executive officer. “United serves thousands of customers and their pets each day, and we saw it as our duty to come in as an independent, third party to help evaluate and further improve their PetSafe program and the in-cabin experience to ensure it offers one of the best in the industry.”

About United

United Airlines and United Express operate approximately 4,600 flights a day to 354 airports across five continents. In 2017, United and United Express operated more than 1.6 million flights carrying more than 148 million customers. United is proud to have the world’s most comprehensive route network, including U.S. mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark/New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. United operates 750 mainline aircraft and the airline’s United Express carriers operate 545 regional aircraft. The airline is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides service to 191 countries via 28 member airlines. For more information, visit united.com, follow @United on Twitter or connect on Facebook. The common stock of United’s parent, United Continental Holdings, Inc., is traded on the NYSE under the symbol “UAL”. For more information about PetSafe, visit www.united.com/PetSafe.