Passenger says airline told her to flush hamster down toilet

A STUDENT claims an airline told her to flush her pet hamster down a lavatory because it wasn’t allowed to fly with her.

Belen Aldecosea, 21, said she twice checked with Spirit Airlines that she could travel with Pebbles, her dwarf hamster, for emotional support.

Assured that Pebbles would be allowed, she arrived at Baltimore-Washington International Airport in America only to discover the airline refused to allow her pet on board. Miss Aldecosea, from Miami, then flushed Pebbles away at the airline employee’s suggestion, she said. ‘She was scared, I was scared,’ she said. ‘It was horrifying trying to put her in the toilet.

‘I was emotional. I was crying. I sat there for a good ten minutes crying in the stall.’ She considered letting Pebbles go free but said she thought it more humane to drown the creature than terrify it.

A spokesman for Spirit Airlines confirmed they had mistakenly advised the rodent could board the plane but denied a worker recommended flushing the animal away.