dhilpert

My wife is proposing to bring a kitten home with her when she travels next week. We have never done this before and I see that CO wants $95 to do this which seems rather steep. She will have an appropriate carrier bag. How strictly is this fee enforced?

CAL PHL FLYER

The Pet Fee IS Enforced..#1 TSA will notice you have a pet when you put it on x-ray when checking for tickets..#2 gate agent checks when boarding..#3 Flight Attendants have In-cabin pets on thier report..do you want to miss your flight because you didnt pay the fee you know is required..or have a red-coat meet a flight to have you pay?..you know you have to pay..so its not an option.@:-)

david55

And there are strict limits as to how many pets can be in a cabin at once.... so it makes sense to pre-reserve your spot well in advance.

WineIsGood

1. The fee is enforced. Really, is $95 that much relative to the price of the plane ticket itself??

2. You will not put the kitten through the x-ray (I hope). You're supposed to take the pet out of the carrier and hold him/her as you walk through the metal detector.

allergictocoach

I have gotten away without paying the "sop job" pet fee before. Make a reservation for your pet with the intention of paying at the airport. When you check-in, no sign of pet = no pay. Go get pet from car. At the gate - pet gets on. If stopped at the gate - say you thought they charged you on the phone. If they make you pay then - pay. Most of the time they just wave you on........ I wouldn't normally condone such activity but $95 is stupid money for something that costs them nothing. DL charges only $50 which is a little more tolerable. In any case, my cat enjoyed a free ride home yesterday with DL.......no one even noticed him in his black duffle looking carrier.

Last time I rode CO with him, there was no tag or anything for his case (like DL gives) that says you have paid. I don't know what the TSA has to say about pets - just carry them through the metal detector with you. Get them to the gate, have a reservation for them and you are usually good. The GA/FA don't really know if you have paid for the reservation unless they go and check. They will usually be presuming you did pay if you were checked in.

CAL PHL FLYER

I saw a guy with a pet on a CO flight recently and the flight attendant noticed there was no pets listed on thier paperwork..the flight attendant got the gate agent..and the gate agent got the credit card onboard..left and came back with a reciept before we left..they took it serious.@:-)

skipie

This isn't directly on point but is a related question...if you are on board a flight with pets, what happens if someone has allergies? For example, I was on a DL flight two years ago, and the woman next to me had two pets - a dog and a cat. I have absolutely terrible allergies to some (but not all) cat breeds. Despite the fact this woman had TWO pets, I was told nothing could be done - my only option was to switch to another flight at my expense (complicating the situation was that the flight was full and this woman was too large to put the armrest down, which DL also insisted they could do nothing about). Needless to say, I was rather sick by the time we landed. Now, obviously, this was an extreme case, but raises an interesting question. Will CO accomodate those with allergies? Does the animal have to go in cargo? If the flight is full and seats cannot be switched, will CO put the allergic (or pet-carrying) person on the next flight?

CME Flyer

Whoa. How could she have TWO pets. Was one in FC and the other in coach? That is the official CO policy. THis will really cost CO a lot of money. Jet Blue is $50 one way and allows multiple pets in its only cabin. So a RT EWR-TPA with my husband and our 2 cats on CO (assuming 200 coach RT and 650 FC) would be 650+200+95+95+95+95=$1,430 (Outrageous). On Jet Blue it is 200+200+50+50+50+50=$600. This is a very easy decision.

Someone needs to review this policy.

allergictocoach

I believe the policy is 1 in F and at least 2 in Y on most flts. No pets in BF on the 777. Unless it's been changed, I don't think it's 1 per cabin. As far as the allergies, most airlines would just try to move you to another seat. There are usually an overwhelming number of pet lovers that are not bothered to have a small cat or dog nearby and would be willing to switch to a similar type seat in Y.

dme

My best bud(dog)and I will soon be re-locating out of Nowheresville. The expense associated with getting him to America is, in my mind exorbitant. Having said that, I will gladly pay every fee, surcharge, tax and tariff associated with his travel in advance as I don't want to be at the airport on our day of departure with him denied boarding or having to deal with other last minute hassles because a fee was overlooked.
I'd say if your wife really wants the kitten, pony up the $95 and avoid potential last minute aggravation.

skipie

Nope. She had both with her in coach. I had boarded early and, after she got on the plane, could not put the armrest down and started playing with her pets, I walked to the galley and (nicely, I thought) asked the FA if there was anyway I could move seats. She said that, since the flight was full, there was nowhere for me to move to and no one would switch because of the woman's size. She then added that, since I was tiny, I certainly could stand to share my seat with her (another issue entirely).

She later proceeded to take her animals out of their bags during the flight - she even walked the dog up and down the aisle. Now, I'll admit, the dog was adorable...but, by the time we landed, I could barely breathe from my reaction to the cat. To be clear, this was on DL, so they may have had a different policy, but, since I go out of my way to avoid every other airline now, I was curious as to the CO policy. (And, yes, that was the last flight I ever took - or will take - on DL.)

Anyhow, sorry for the rant, but I'm glad to know that there is a maximum number of pets that can be boarded on CO - while I don't expect unreasonable accomodations for my allergies (certainly there are much worse things to deal with), it's good to know an easy seat-switch should be possible. Thanks!

DiverDave

This is strictly against the rules on every airline that allows pets to fly.

I am allergic to dogs and cats as well, and dread the day that I end up in this situation.....

David

IAH_FLYER

The fee is ridiculous. I would try to get around it if possible (sneak the cat on). They don't charge for lap children so why charge for pets?

allergictocoach

CO allows 4 pets per cabin in Y and 1 in F. Both CO and DL state that one pet per person is the rule. Seems like I have seen one airline that allows more than one pet per if they fit comfortably in the same kennel.....2 kittens perhaps?

What happened to the lady is terrible. I would be more apt to demand to be moved over the ladies size than the pets.......although having them out during flt. is not acceptable.

zeiman

Continental does not have more than 1 pet per cabin.

I was on a flight to sju over New Years and there were two dogs in the coach cabin. GA came back to try and handle the situation. This became very easy when one of the pet owners did not pay the fee for the pet and thus had to leave the flight.