Ms Newman said she was given permission to wait with Duke in the airconditioned office until the last possible minute before he was placed in his crate for the flight. "When travelling (by plane) with Duke, I always stand at the window near the boarding gates and watch him get loaded onto the plane before I board," she wrote on Facebook. "When I arrived at the boarding gates, I could see Duke's crate already on the tarmac. I'm not sure how long he'd already been there but as I watched, five, ten, fifteen minutes passed, and he was still out there, in the crate, in that heat. I alerted Qantas staff of my concerns over Duke being out in the heat, but I was assured that he was fine and would be loaded shortly." She said she became extremely distressed and started to cry only to be told via a phone call to the ground crew that her dog was fine.

When she landed in Brisbane, her worst fears were realised. "I heard the words I never wanted to hear, 'We have some bad news, I'm sorry but your dog didn't survive the flight and has passed away. "All I could do was scream no, no, no. I demanded to see Duke because I didn't want to believe what was happening," she said. "Duke was still in the crate and when I reached in and put my arms around him, I knew immediately why he died because the heat coming from the underside of his body, and the bottom of his crate was immense." Ms Newman said she had been in constant contact with Qantas in the weeks since the incident, prompting her to start an online petition into the airline's animal handling procedures.

Loading "We have expressed our sympathies to Kay about the passing of her dog, Duke," a Qantas spokesperson said. "There was an unexpected delay with the flight which meant he was on the tarmac for longer

than usual but our baggage handlers said Duke was fine when he was loaded onto the

aircraft." It is Qantas policy to limit flights for dogs such as boxers, pugs and bulldogs to five hours, and the airline requires a waiver to be signed if one of these breeds is to be flown for more than that time. "Snub-nosed dogs can suffer from respiratory issues which means they are at a higher risk when travelling by air," the spokesperson said.