Virgin Australia staff to be re-trained after woman’s dog left on boiling hot tarmac in plastic-wrapped crate

Virgin Australia cargo staff at Perth Airport will be re-trained on how to handle pets travelling on planes after a woman’s beloved dog was left on the hot tarmac in a plastic-wrapped crate.

Kelsey Partridge was travelling to Melbourne from Perth a fortnight ago when the ordeal unfolded.

Four animals were being shipped, but the air holes had been covered by plastic.

The furious dog owner, feeling helpless in the terminal, recorded footage of her dog — six-year-old Japanese Spitz, Navi — stranded on the hot tarmac as the temperature rose above 30 degrees.

“It turned into one of the most stressful and traumatic experiences of my life,” Ms Partridge said.

Owners of the animals pleaded with Virgin staff in the terminal, who were then caught in a 30-minute standoff with ground staff to get the dogs out of the sun.

The RSPCA says it takes only minutes for a dog to develop life-threatening heat stroke.

Ms Partridge says after the four-hour flight nightmare, when her dog reached Melbourne, it was dehydrated and distressed.

“I’d really love to know what moron thought that was an efficient safe way to restrain the animals,” she said.

“Just be better ... have better systems in place (and) train your staff better.”

A Virgin Australia spokesperson told 7NEWS it plans to do just that.

“Following this incident, our cargo and ramp team have undergone an internal review of processes and both teams have undergone further coaching and training,” the spokesperson said.

“We are very pleased these pets are safe and well, but acknowledge our team could have done better to ensure they were more comfortable when travelling with us.”

While Navi is fine today, her mum had one final message for airlines: “Don’t try and kill people’s animals ... it’s terrible.”