A US woman from Utah who is suing "pets first" Delta Air Lines for $4 million says three of her 11 dogs died after being penned in a plane's storage area in temperatures of up to 49C.

Barbara Burgett, a former vet tech, said she paid $250 apiece in 2008 to fly Hector, a six-year-old French Bulldog, and 10 four-month-old puppies from Hungary to Salt Lake City with a layover at New York's John F Kennedy International Airport.

"I had never shipped dogs from out of country before," she said. "[Delta claims to treat pets] as precious cargo. I felt they'd be treated like gold."

The dogs, which she says she purchased for $20,000, made it OK to JFK - but when their flight arrived in Utah the next day, Hector was dead and the pups were in grave condition, and two later died, according to the suit filed last month.

There were no water or food dishes in the crates despite the unbearable heat, the suit charges.

The airline denies it did anything wrong.

Read more at the New York Post.

Originally published as Woman sues airline over pet deaths