(CNN )For more than three hours, a passenger's dog was inside an overhead bin on United Airlines Flight 1284 from Houston to New York after a flight attendant told the passenger to put it there.

Airline officials say it was a mistake. It turned out to be a deadly one.

When the plane landed at LaGuardia Airport Monday night, the dog was deceased.

In a statement, United called the dog's death a "tragic accident." Spokesman Charlie Hobart told CNN a flight attendant should not have told the passenger to put the dog in the bin used for carry-on bags.

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Hey United, How does it feel to have this dog blood on your hands? There’s ways to fly with dogs, this is not one. You’re not supposed to hide a dog in an overhead compartment like you’re smuggling it from the dog police. You can’t just stick this thing in between a bunch of bags like it’s a sack of potatoes. If you have to put dogs in overhead compartments then you should have to put babies in overhead compartments. 

Really seems like this is a terrible year for bringing pets on planes. Doesn’t matter if it’s a dog or a hamster, that thing isn’t valued like a human life. Sure I don’t know if keeping dogs in bags is ever the best thing, but that shouldn’t matter. Haven’t we come far enough in airplanes where we can stop worrying about the human shit and start making sure dogs aren’t dying mid flight? Like, I hate to break it to you- but if the plane crashes- everybody is dying. Doesn’t matter if that emergency aisle is clogged, crowded, or crystal clear: men, women, children, and dogs, all dead. Let’s just focus on making sure that when the plane doesn’t crash that things aren’t dying. When that plane touches down, everything and everyone should be accounted for. We’re there. We can do that. This isn’t 1945, people don’t freeze to death in planes anymore. Our technology is sick. Maybe not maximum level of sick yet, but sick enough that dogs shouldn’t be dying on airplanes. Clean it up airlines. Just show us a little bit of effort.