cat scratch fever....

Thanks to you all, this song is running through my head (like a cat in the midst of the afternoon crazies). Hopefully now it is running through your head as well.

That is a well crafted sentence if ever I have seen one. ^

Let me rewrite for clarity:

As a pet owner your responsibility is to the welfare of your pet. Period. Removing the pet from the crate may, or may not, be in its best interests. These one-size fits all rules, indeed, most of the TSA rules, need to be fought. Period.

And in the interests of disclosure, my cats are indoor cats and only leave the house for checkups at the vet.

Wow. So you're a mind-reader, eh?

I won't waste anymore of my time with you; please don't waste mine by inserting words that I did not type and then attributing them to me. How intellectually dishonest of you and narrow-minded. And how disappointing.

There's been a case mentioned on here.

Now now. I clearly noted that I made the change in your original text. Still, I agree with your sentiment. We are unlikely to change each others minds.

I will, however, continue to point out when and where I believe DHS/TSA to be wrong in spirit and action.

Of course you won't.

Your boot is firmly in place on his throat, and you get paid. Why you even bother with trying to justify this arrangement of yours here is beyond me. It certainly isn't necessary after all.

All you have to do is flash your guns. Debate over. You win.

Were it not against his own interest to do so, Bart would grant you the freedom to leave your mutual disagreement at nothing more than that. Happens between individuals every day.

Unfortunately, Bart can't leave this issue at agreeing to disagree. That would mean the loss of his current job (or at least, having to perform the same job at the significantly lower rate he knows free people would pay for his currently overpriced (by government market distortion) service). So he asserts a right to power over you and airline operators, heavily against your will. And this is something he cannot deny; he can only attempt to convince you it is in your best interest (as he tries with everyone here). You appear to be smarter than that though, and good for you.

Here's a question - does a bird have to be removed from it's carrier/cage when transported as a cabin pet? If so, how do you keep the bugger from flying off? If not, then why apply a double standard?

I can just picture an irate parrot dive-bombing the hat off of an equally irate TSO

I continue to be troubled by this whole cat question and I am amazed at the number of posts that have been generated by it and the heat it has created.

In an effort to calm the rhetoric between FlyerTalk members I believe I have come upon a credible reason why TSO, in order to maintain a standard of the highest safety and security for the flying public, took the position that the cat had to be removed from the cage. I am contacting the news network that first covered the story in the hopes that they can validate my theory.

Could it be that the cat was a Persian?

Groan.


ab53

In 2005 we moved from SAN to PDX; we have three cats. I would not put them in cargo, but one option was available -AS allows up to 5 animals in cabin on a flight. So we recruited a friend (who is also owned by a cat) and paid for his ticket, and all three of us took at cat as our underseat "personal item."

However, we also started planning for this a few weeks in advance. I grabbed a row of three at the back of the plane in case anyone had allergies and needed to be moved up front (and yes, that happened). And the most important piece, I actually got the TSA involved early. We were flying weekly back and forth between SAN and PDX getting things together, and the week before us and the furry creatures made the move, while flying out of SAN, I asked one of the TSA reps what we should do about the cats. The rep grabbed her supervisor, and he told us to come early, and he would put us and the cats in a seperate room with a closed door, and x-ray each carrier indivudually.

The day of the move came, our vet advised us *not* to sedate the cats, we checked in early and made our way to the WTMDs. I told the first TSA agent what the supervisor told us to do, and she had it down. She grabbed a partner, and the two of them put is in the room where they do the private screenings. They had our friend go through the WTMD first and wait on the other side; then we took one cat out of the carrier at a time, the carrier was x-rayed by one agent with the other agent watching to make sure that only the the cat went back in to its original carrier. Since the room was quiet, the cats didn't make much of a fuss. Once they were done, the cats were brought out to our friend, and then we went through the WTMDs.

The AS agent was great and pre-boarded us along with a couple of UMs who happened to be in the row in front of us. We told the kids which cat was under their seat, and every so often, one of the kids would dive down to say hi. Everything else on board was fine, except that Samson (who has since gone over the rainbow bridge) decided that he wanted to talk for a while, and once he realized that we weren't going to take him out of the carrier, eventually quieted down.

Kudos to all those involved for coming up w/a common sense solution that met the needs of everyone, especially the stressed out furpeople.

I don't think birds are permitted as carry-on for precisely that reason, but I'm not sure. Could be that none of the 15-20 airlines that service our airport permit it but perhaps there are some that do at others.

There is no double standard. Same applies to any animal that is being taken aboard as carry-on.

I'm surprised the morons at TSA allowed the cat through security. After all, it most likely contained more than 3 oz of liquid.

Not a problem for one of my cats. When handled in stressful situations, like at the vet, it voluntarily rids itself of liquids and gels.