An airline refused to apologize for losing a Staten Island couple’s dog at Kennedy Airport – even after the panicked pooch met a tragic end on a busy Queens thoroughfare.
“If they had lost a $5 suitcase, we would probably have gotten a quicker response and more sympathy,” a heartbroken Matthew Mirones – a former state assemblyman – told The Post yesterday.
“But here was a member of our family, who because of Olympic Airlines’ incompetence is dead, and they can’t even say, ‘I’m sorry.’ ”
On the way to Athens, Mirones and his girlfriend, Lisa Lonuzzi, were able to bring Leo, an 18-pound beige terrier, as a carry-on and stow him under their seat. But on the return flight, Olympic officials insisted that the dog fly in the cargo hold.
After arriving at Kennedy Airport on the night of Nov. 30, Lonuzzi and Mirones stood by the baggage carousel waiting for Leo to come down off the conveyor belt.
Their bags appeared right away, but after a half-hour, there was still no sign of the dog crate in which the couple 12 hours earlier had meticulously packed their beloved terrier.
When they became the last ones standing at the carousel, they began to panic and approached an airline official.
“At first, they gave us the runaround,” Lonuzzi said. “Then they finally told us they had the crate – but no dog.”
According to Olympic spokesman George Kessanis, when the belly of the aircraft was opened, Leo darted out the door. The 22-month-old pooch raced toward Terminal 2, outrunning half a dozen employees.
“This is not something we are prepared to handle – it has never happened before,” Kessanis said. “This is not a lost suitcase that you can trace – this is a living being, and there is only so much we can do.”
When asked why the airline had not apologized, Kessanis said only, “It’s a regrettable event for us.”
Port Authority police drove the couple around the ramp area of the terminal. After searching for an hour or two, Mirones and Lonuzzi went home, devastated.
“I had to do something, so I posted an ad on Craigslist,” she said.
Responses came pouring in from animal lovers – many of whom had been involved in the search for Vivi, the Westminster show dog lost at Kennedy in 2006 and never seen again.
The day after their pet was lost, Lonuzzi received the news that a dog matching Leo’s description had been found dead on the side of Rockaway Boulevard.
“We scraped him off the side of the road – we were devastated,” Lonuzzi said.
“At least we know where he is. We have closure, just no apology.”