I do travel with my pet from time to time and understand charging a fee for this service. That said, often these fees border on the outrageous. Often the charges to fly a pet can be nearly the same as a person (on a cheap X fare). For this amount, the pet should receive its own seat! Furthermore, and perhaps the thing that irks me more, is that the pet counts as my carry-on bag even though I had to pay an extra fee. Are those pax bringing along lap children (which can be infinitely more annoying in-flight than most pets) also not allowed a carry-on bag? My line of thinking is that if I'm paying an extra "fare" for the privilege of flying my pet, why am I also penalized by having the pet counted as my carry-on? It's simply adding insult to injury...