Animals on AS
 

A good friend has two dogs that are like family members and he recently asked me to help "convince" his wife that bringing the dogs on the flight would be okay. That made me think to start this thread...

Here in ANC we love animals and we take wonderful care of them. I handle dogs and cats daily and I can assure you that they are in good hands.

Alaska Airlines moves dogs between here and the lower 48 and around the state with the same care that we move passengers. We read the animals names from the labels on the kennels and call them by name and (even though it's kind of a gray area as far as the rules go) we've been known to reach in and stroke/scratch them. ;) We use two people to handle larger kennels and we load them into the aircraft with care, again talking to them by name as we do so. The pilots keep the pits containing animals at a reasonable temperature and we make sure to not let them be out in the cold any longer than necessary. We use straps to secure kennels when needed to ensure that turbulence doesn't bounce them around. If an animal seems particularly scared or aggressive we try to load other animals in another pit so that they don't antagonize one another.

We don't feed animals anything from the "outside" but if you stick a ziploc bag of treats on the top of the kennel or inside of it near the front...we've been known to sneak the dog a treat or two from the bag.

The guys in the bagwell treat the dogs carefully too and if they are delayed or something goes amiss they make sure to give them food and water as appropriate. They'll also get them out for a stretch and a potty break if needed.

If you check a pet with AS this holiday season or any other time that you travel...relax! They're in good hands. ^

Cheers for that.

My dog is attached to my hip, but unless I was going on a month long plus trip, I can't see myself ever packing him cargo. But your words certainly make me feel better about things should that ever happen.

I wish the owners of the carry-on yippy dogs took care of their dogs as well as y'all do the big guys. ;)

Fortunately my dog is only 8 pounds, he rides in F with me! ;)

(And for the record: he stays under the seat, he never makes a sound, and most pax only know he was on board as we deplane.)

I've flown my dogs (2 husky mixes, 70# and 40#) a couple of times with AS. They're always happy to see me on the other end of the journey but they've always been in great shape with no signs of major stress or trauma! Thanks for taking such good care of my pups!

i have a question regarding other animals.

my bf runs a tropical fish store here in alaska. he usually orders his fish from florida. most of the time the fish arrive in seattle within hours of placing the order. its in seattle that the problems start.
even though the boxes are very clearly marked as "live tropical fish" , they very rarely get treated as live animals. by the time that we recieve the reinforced boxes at the final destination, they are in a not so good condition, to say the least.
but the big problem is that they repeatedly get bumped off flights! (even though we pay extra for priority cargo). at one point it got so bad that the fish got bumped NINE TIMES over four days. needless to say, by the time we recieved the fish, the casualty rate was over 80%.

what excatly happens to these little critters?

I unloaded a bunch of boxes labeled "Live Tropical Fish" last night that were bound for ADQ. Is that where you are? A couple of thoughts come to mind...

1. Talk to a Cargo Manager. AS is placing a renewed emphasis on cargo operations and if you aren't satisfied...let someone know! I work on the ramp so my dealings with cargo are limited to loading and unloading. But seriously...we value cargo customers and if you aren't getting satisfactory service please talk to them.

2. Cargo that goes out to Bush Alaska does sometimes take a beating. That's not an excuse for unacceptable fish losses but maybe the folks in Florida aren't packing it "well enough" for the Alaska market? Not trying to pass the buck here...just offering a thought.

3. If you are here in ANC and this is happening the problem is somewhere downstream. <no pun intended> Again, please talk with a customer service representative in cargo and let me know if you don't get satisfaction.

I hope this helps.
-eastwest

thanks for your input, eastwest. i guess there is some details that i left out.

1. i'm in southeast, (ketchikan).
2. the fish are packed in boxes lined with 1 1/2 inch thick styrofoam, put in inflated bags. if there is space in the box, this is usually filled with some kind of filler, or the bags are packed tight enough so that they can't move. the suppliers always insert heat/cold packs (depending on the weather) to ensure minimal disruption to their environment. the more sensitive fish is put in special, dark bags, to keep stress to a minimum. they usually add some kind of stress reducer in the water as well.
3. the fish always fly as out of florida, make it to seattle in no time...and then sit and wait.
4. just like dogs and cats, fish are sensitive to temp. so storing them in a cold warehouse is not doing them any good.
5. we are in fact, waiting for a shipment. couldn't land at ktn so they went to wrangell....eek

anything else?

I sent you a private message with some additional thoughts and information. Let me know how it goes... :)

Thank You
 

From all of us animal lovers, THANK YOU, GOD BLESS YOU and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Mans best friend, man's biggest worry
 

Hi,

We recently moved from London England to Los Cabo Mexico. Our Beagle made the trip successfully using BA from LHR-LAX and Alaska (yesterday) from LAX-SJD in the hold.

He arrived safe and sound in Mexico last night, tired but happy to see us. We were worried as he is slightly skittish, but today has ate and walked well and is now sleeping contendedly on the floor.

We are writing separately to Alaska Air cargo division to thank them but this seemed an opportune moment to post some comments.

Happy chrsitmas to all from two Brits and a Beagle enjoying the Mexican sun.

Tom

I will say that AS treated Jacques the wonder basset with amazing care and grace when he was a frequent bayer on the sea-oak-sea run. However, unlike gleff's dog, he was quite verbal due to the lack of catering and at times, it could be quite something. :p

I hope our next basset is as good of a traveller.

fa la la

Hey thanks for the kudos... :)

Just thought I'd add, we get animals (primarily sled dogs) from the Bush that come in for surgery/extensive medical care regularly. They often have notes taped to the top describing what happened (i.e. "just had leg surgery" etc) and it's helpful. We handle all animals carefully but if the animal is under any particular distress it's always nice to have that additional information...

2007/08 Update??
 

We taking our Lab with us in a few days to Calif. Reading eastwest's original comments make me feel good, but a) that was two years ago and b) those were thoughts from an Alaska employee vs Menzies. Can anyone please share recent experience? Thanks!

Dog getting first class treatment
 

On my last flight from PDX to OAK, I was upgraded to 1st class and sat next to a lady who brought her laptog on board. She kept her dog in a little traveling bad with his little head sticking out. I was surprised to hear that Alaska let people bring animals on board because I had recently heard that Southwest doesn't even allow guide dogs on board either with PAX or below in the pits. Well, everything was fine except the aircraft had (3) separate mechanical issues with it and we all ended moving to a new aircraft. Since I wasn't in a rush to get anywhere, I took the delays in stride (I think the upgrade to FC helped too) but this lady was going nuts because her dog was itching to get out of the bag and she was worried the dog needed to go potty. She started complaining about Alaska and I came close to telling her to go fly Southwest but then she would have to leave her dog at home. Sometimes you can't make anyone happy. I'm glad Alaska tries their best.

I think that Southwest is in the minority of airlines by not allowing small pets underseat or larger ones as cargo. They are required by law to allow guide/service animals - and you can even check off you have one when you book a ticket on their website.