Shaggy dog
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"in the day," Southwest Airlines was way cool. Tried harder. No corporate BS to put up with. And, the employees were all part of the package, from the ramp rats (baggage handlers) to the flight attendants and pilots. All one big happy family that worked together.
It used to be, flights out of Dallas (Love Field, not DFW) had to end in an adjoining state. The Wright Amendment, a legal loophole to make sure that Love Field didn't poach DFW's traffic. All old history. I commuted to both Arizona and the Left Coast a few times, and what I found was
I'd book a ticket for Phoenix to Albuquerque then another for Albuquerque to Dallas, and then, I could hop on the next jet out of town. Usually there was convenient connecting flight. The extra hour waiting in the airport? Made up for by not having to drive to the DFW airport, an hour away.
So I'm familiar with the ramp rats and the tales, and the luggage issue and the carry on policy and so on. Used to be, in Texas? I could board with a hunting knife larger than a Roman broadsword, no problem.
The one ramp rat, his story?
"We unloaded a Dallas flight, and we had a transfer ticket on a Golden Retriever in a dog carrier. Booked the dog through to LAX, and when we unloaded it, in ABQ, the dog was dead. Provably died in flight. Panic. Worried about a lawsuit and how this would look for the company. One guy pitched the dog's carcass in a dumpster, and two of the crew booked it on down to the local animal shelter -- it's close to the airport there.
"We found another golden, just like the dead one, put the collar on, paid the $25 for the adoption, and put the dog in the carrier, and checked the dog right on through to LAX. Good deed done."
No good deed ever goes unpunished. The story has an ending.
"Turns out that the lady, when claimed her dog, almost fainted. She was shipping her dead dog home from Dallas so the dog could be buried in California."
True story. I heard it from a crew member who knew.