Update: Delta Lost Her Dog at ATL. Here’s What Happened Since

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You may have read about the beginning of this story a couple of weeks ago. Paula Rodriguez began living a nightmare after her dog, Maia, was lost by ATL airport staff. They were supposed to be bringing Maia to her owner on her Delta Air Lines flight but they somehow lost the dog at the busiest airport in the world.

On August 18th, Rodriguez was flying from her home in the Dominican Republic for a two-week vacation in California. With her was her 6-year-old Chihuahua mix, Maia.

Flying Delta Air Lines with Maia in a kennel in the cabin with her, Rodriguez had a layover at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), before she would continue on to to San Francisco (SFO).

But when she arrived at ATL, Rodriguez said border staff told her that she couldn’t continue on her trip because she “didn’t meet the requirements” of her tourist visa.

“They told me very kindly, ‘We’re so sorry, but you don’t meet the requirements to enter the U.S., you’ve been denied entry, and you need to be sent back home to Santo Domingo,'” she said.

So they canceled her visa, and told her that she’d have to return home on the next flight.

Unfortunately, the next flight back to the Dominican Republic wasn’t until the next day. So they told her she’d have to spend the night in a detention center. However, the facility didn’t allow animals so her dog couldn’t come with her.

“They called a Delta agent, who took Maia from me,” Rodriguez told CNN at the time.

“I started asking questions about where she’d be spending the night, and told him she’d been in a lot of distress on the flight. When we’d got there [to Atlanta] she’d puked with distress and had diarrhea.

“He told me not to worry, that she’d be taken to a facility with staff trained for that. That they’d give her food and water and take care of her. It wasn’t my wish, but I understood. There was nothing I could do, and I trusted him,” she continued.

Rodriguez’s flight back to the Dominican Republic was scheduled for 10.20 a.m. the next morning. Border staff told her she’d be picked up from the detention center one hour and 45 minutes before her departure, so they could accompany her to her gate. They said that Maia would be waiting there for her.

An hour and 45 minutes isn’t a whole lot of time to get to your gate. Especially at ATL. So when they finally arrived, it was late enough that passengers were already boarding. But Maia was nowhere to be found.

“The gate staff started making calls. A manager came and said they were looking for her, that she should be in the facility but they didn’t have time to look and I should get on a plane,” said Rodriguez.

“I started panicking and said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t get on when you’re telling me you don’t know where my dog is.'”

They agreed, and rescheduled Rodriguez to a flight that was an hour later. It was going to Punta Cana, a two-and-a-half-hour drive away from Santo Domingo, which was her original destination. But Rodriguez was fine with the switch; she figured whatever happened with Maia was a simple mixup, they’d find the dog soon enough, and they’d be together on the flight.

But when it was time to board the later flight, there was still no Maia.

Border agents told Rodriguez that she couldn’t be in the US for more than 24 hours without a visa. She had to go on the flight headed for Punta Cana, without her dog.

Rodriguez did was she was told.

She says she had a panic attack on the three-hour flight to Punta Cana. She and Maia have barely spent minutes apart from each other since Rodriguez, who used to rescue street dogs and rehome them, found her as a month-old puppy and couldn’t bear to part with her.

“Everyone who knows me knows what she means to me. I don’t go anywhere without her. She’s so well behaved that I take her to restaurants, literally everywhere. She’s my partner in everything,” she told CNN.

When Rodriguez landed at Punta Cana, she filed a report. Her mother, meanwhile, went to the airport in Santo Domingo, just in case Maia had somehow wound up landing there without anyone being told.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez did everything she could on her end.

“I called Delta, Atlanta Airport, even San Francisco. I filed every claim possible. I called all the shelters and veterinary surgeries I could in Atlanta. I was in agony for two days with no answer,” she said.

Two days after Maia went missing, Rodriguez said she was called by a Delta representative in Santo Domingo.

“He said that [while they were in Atlanta] she was being transported [to the plane] on the runway, and staff had opened her kennel, and she had got out of the car and escaped into the middle of the runway,” she told CNN.

“Planes were taking off and coming in. He said they chased her but she ran faster and faster and she escaped. That’s all I know.”

The next day, she was called by another Delta representative, who told her that he’d be handling her case.

“I’ve called him several times a day but he has no updates,” she said.

Rodriguez’s U.S. visa was cancelled, so she couldn’t fly back to the United States to search for her dog. Instead, on August 24, six days after the nightmare began, Rodriguez’s mother flew to Atlanta to represent her.

“They’re giving her a tour, and showing her the tapes, but she says there’s nothing – no leads,” Rodriguez said at the time.

“The thing is, that airport has more than 4,000 acres. My mom told me it’s scary dimensions – it’s definitely a possibility that she’s hiding in the airport, but she could be in a lot of places.”

Maia is microchipped, and Rodriguez says that she and Delta have notified every animal shelter and veterinary surgeon in the county. They’ve also sent them photos of her – which is why she still thinks Maia might still be in the airport.

“If anyone had found her, they’d have taken her to a shelter and she’d have been scanned. My information is right there. The highest possibility is that she’s still there, hiding,” she said.

A Delta spokesperson told CNN in a statement: “Delta teams have been working to locate and reunite this pet with the customer and we remain in touch with the customer to provide updates. Delta people feel deeply concerned for the customer and the dog and we’re committed to ongoing search efforts, working closely with the City of Atlanta Department of Aviation and other stakeholders.”

Meanwhile a spokesperson for the airport told CNN: “ATL’s operations teams conduct runway and airfield inspections throughout the day. At this time they have not encountered the dog, but will continue to remain vigilant should she appear. If she is seen, ATL’s staff will attempt to capture her and return her to the airline and her owner.” CNN said ATL’s operations team didn’t respond when asked how the dog was allowed to escape in the first place.

Rodriguez, of course, was very anxious about the whole situation.

“I’m in agony,” she said in August. “I’ve been living a nightmare…knowing my baby is out there somewhere scared, or might be injured. All kinds of thoughts come into my head and I can’t do anything. Every minute feels like a day.”

Fast forward three weeks and unfortunately, the news isn’t any better. Maia still hasn’t been found. Airline crews at ATL apparently are still looking for Maia, and Rodriguez is being encouraged to reach out to Delta’s lawyers regarding the ongoing investigation.

According to a report from CBS journalist David Begnaud, Delta has offered Rodriguez $1,800 in response to the incident.

As per Begnaud, Rodriguez’s attorney called Delta’s offer an “insult.”

However, a Delta spokesperson later said that said: “No offer of compensation has been made or agreed to at this early stage.”

As a dog owner, I feel terribly for this girl; I really do. After three weeks, I question what actually happened to Maia – did she manage to escape ATL? Did she die somewhere? Did someone find her and bring her home? Poor Maia, and especially poor Paula Rodriguez. No pet owner should have to go through a nightmare like this.

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