Last spring Delta Airlines offered a couple $200 compensation for losing their newly rescued dog, Paco, on his way back to his forever home. The dog seems to be forever gone, with no new clues about what may have happened to him.

And now another dog has gone missing while traveling on Delta. Delta claims Nala, a German shepherd mix, escaped from her crate during a connection at Hartfield Airport in Atlanta. She was flying from San Diego to Frankfurt, Germany, to join her owners, one of whom is in the military there. Her companion, a beagle named Princess, arrived unscathed.

Delta offered a $1,000 reward for the missing Nala, but sadly, her body has been discovered alongside a major highway in Atlanta. It’s speculated that she died instantly after being hit by a car, according to Examiner.com.

How very, very sad. Our hearts go out to her owners, Alisa and Brian Miller. How can a dog escape from an airline-approved kennel? There’s something a little fishy on the Delta end of things. Was Nala actually Houdini? Delta is developing a large following of pet owners who will never fly their dogs on the airline. Here’s a comment a Dogster reader left just a few days ago on our story about Paco last spring:

DELTA SUCKS!!! WHEN I TOOK MY DOG TO BRAZIL, THEY LOST MY DOGS PAPERWORKSO SHE HAD TO STAY IN THE CAGE AT THE AIRPORT FOR 48 HOURS PLUS DE 24 HOURS OF TRAVELING!!! WHEN I PICKED HER UP SHE HAD FECES ALL OVER HERTHEY KEPT HER IN THE CAGE THE WHOLE TIMESO CRUELAND THEY STILL MADE ME PAY A FEE FOR KEEPING HER AT THE AIRPORT FOR 2 DAYS. THEY NEVER APOLOGIZED!!! I HATE DELTA!!!!

Have any of you had good or bad experiences flying on Delta or other airlines with your dogs? Obviously most dogs get to their destinations in one piece, but it’s helpful to be informed about the realities of flying with pets — especially if certain airlines are more apt to mishandle them. Dogs have very little say when it comes to arriving alive, so it’s up to us to know the reality…