Website to put pets on jets not affiliated with Delta

A website is tricking people into thinking they’re dealing with Delta Air Lines when arranging for their pets to fly on jets, the Atlanta-based company maintains in a new federal lawsuit.

The site — DeltaPetTransit.com — is designed to look like a Delta site and uses the airline’s logos and pictures of its planes, Delta said in the lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Georgia. But the site isn’t affiliated with the airline and has no right to use its trademarks the complaint says.

The website solicits pet-shipment payments while posing as Delta, but offers no services, Delta maintains.

The site is being used “to advertise bogus pet air-transport services and to dupe intended victims into believing that they are dealing with Delta and are tendering pet shipment-related payments and fees directly to Delta,” Delta states in the complaint.

The site includes pictures of children hugging a dog and smiling pet owners, and explains how pets will travel.

“It’s another teary goodbye as we fill the water container and ensure your pet is comfortable and relaxed inside his/her travelling crate. From here the door is sealed shut with cable ties until your pet reaches their destination,” the site states.

But whoever is behind the site is a mystery.

It was created earlier this year using a service that masks the identities of people registering internet domains. A phone number at the site uses an area code that Delta says does not exist in the United States. The physical address on the site is a street in a fictitious city: Simi Valley, Nevada.

Since the site’s operators aren’t yet known, defendants in the lawsuit are named as “John Does 1-25.” However, Delta vows in the lawsuit that it will determine their identities through its investigation.