Zorak

Dunno, I had one that almost made it to 18...

jdrtravel

Oh I'm not even getting into the whether or not bringing a pet on board is a "right." I'm just speaking more generally about airline fees, and including the pet fee as one of them (change fees, luggage fees, preferred seat fee, same day change fee, etc). My point is that I think that airline fees have become obnoxious in some cases (sometimes over $400 to change a international ticket), and with the lack of competition and the essential nature of the product, I think they risk inviting more regulation as the public sees them exploiting the oligopoly that the federal government has allowed to be created.

cardsqc

Personally I questions whether any animal too large to fit in a carrier should be allowed in the cabin, regardless of their status as an emotional support animal or anything like that. If it's too big to fit in a carrier, now we've got an animal that loose in the cabin - what if it decides to freak out? If it's big enough to interfere with someone elses seat, it's big enough that it could do damage if it decided to panic. I'm willing to exempt true service dogs, because in general they've had some training to make them service dogs, but even the legit emotional support animals generally haven't had any real training, let alone the ones that are simply pets that someone has faked the documentation for.

I also find it amusing that airlines go to extreme about peanut allergies, but pet allergies? eh, nope. Ok, yeah, most animal allergies aren't going to kill someone, but if the flight is anything more than a couple of hours I'm likely to end up miserable if I'm sitting next to someone that has a cat with them (who I find in general like to remove said cat from the carrier, and I've yet to meet a flight attendant that would say anything more than "how cute" when they see someone that's removed their cat from the carrier.

jamesteroh

+1 on the first paragraph. There is no way having a pet onboard is costing Delta $125. Even if that was a RT fare that is still a little high. Just like there are people that don't think kids should be allowed in first class, I've encountered people that feel the same way about pets so maybe Delta is using that absurd fee to discourage travelling with pets but the only time I travel with a pet is if I absolutely have to. I'd rather leave pets at home where they are comfortable and have my pet sitter come in but sometimes you don't have a choice but to travel with a pet.

What really ticks me off about that fee though is the pet is considered a carryon. The carrier is going under your seat not in the bin! Fortunately I have never had an issue with a GA or FA telling me I couldn't bring my rollerbag on board when travelling with my cat. When I travel with a cat I don't have my backpack so the only thing going in the bin is the rollerbag and cat carrier goes under the seat in front of me like my backpack would.

MSPeconomist

I agree that FAs shouldn't allow pets to be taken out of their carriers during a flight. AFAIK this is a FAA regulation, but it's rarely enforced even when it's pointed out to the FA.

BTW, even a small dog can do a lot of damage if it decides to attack someone.

One of my "lovely" experiences in this way was a flight to EZE where a nonrev boarded with a small dog in a carrier and then was "upgraded" to D1 after takeoff. She then proceeded to take the dog out of the carrier and passed it around to a few others (I assume also nonrevs) that she knew, walked around the D1 cabin holding took it into the lavatory with her, etc. One of the FAs was playing with the dog before serving breakfast. [A DL agent tried to claim later that it was/must have been an emotional support animal, but this seems inconsistent with the nonrev being initially assigned a coach seat when there were empty D1 seats on the flight.]

jdrtravel

Why is not possible that a non-rev have an emotional support animal? It would be hard to believe that a non-rev whose work is inflight would have one, but there are plenty of non-flying employees who can non-rev.

kop84

I would guess is the pet fee/carry-on restrictions were mostly to discourage people from bringing their pets in the first place unless absolutely necessary.
I would bet DL would be happy to never have a pet on the plane.

The unintended consequence has been an increase in people exploiting the EAS loophole.

jdrtravel

I thought that Delta limits the number of pets (not including service/esa) per flight to two per cabin? I just tried searching the website and can't find that rule listed, though I am almost positive that it used to be.

This is a very simple way to prevent a flight being full of animals. Personally for larger a/c I think 2 is a bit restrictive, but I could see no more than 4 or 5 pets being allowed on any particular flight, and I could also see requiring pet owners to agree to being reseated if someone near them has an allergy (that the reseating should happen to the pet owner not the allergy sufferer).

zitsky

When I travel with a cat it's always because I'm moving. I would never take it out of the carrier. Too likely it would get away from me.

kop84

I believe you are correct, but doesn't that just prove my point even further? If the Pet fee was really to make money, why would they limit the number of pets?

If DL saw Pets in Cabin as a way to make money, they'd lower the price and remove the restrictions on the numbers.

DL purposely makes it difficult, expensive, and cumbersome to bring a pet in cabin...the exact opposite of what you'd do if you were trying to make it a money making venture.

It's not meant to make money, it's entirely to discourage people from bringing their pets unnecessarily.

stallion114

I just flew with my 7lb “ESA” maltese for the first time.
I spent $180 for a letter from one of the therapy dog websites. Price was $150 +$30 for getting it in 24 hours.
While I have always been against animals (exception service dogs) on planes I was not about to spend $125 x 6 over the next 2 months for a dog the size of a toiletry bag.
He slept in my lap on 4 of 5 segments and passengers commented that they didn’t know he was on the plane when we were de-boarding (he was in the carrier during boarding). One passenger asked if I drugged him because he literally didn’t move for 3 hours. I was afraid he might start making noise if I left him in the carrier the whole time.

Charging $125 each way for a dog to sit in a carrier under my seat or sleep on my lap seems excessive. I would be in favor of eliminating ESA completely but I sure as heck wasn’t about to shell out a bunch of cash while everyone else freerolls.
If you cant beat em join em!
If a pet can fit in a carrier under the seat I think it should count as the personal item. Or charge a more reasonable fee of say $25-$50 each way.

jrl767

feline seat poacher? lol

MSPeconomist

My point is that an ESA would not have precluded the nonrev from being assigned a D1 seat by the GA, while a pet would not have been allowed in D1 or allowed to be out of the container during the flight. Either way, some rule was broken by the nonrev.

jamesteroh

Oops corrected LOL.

jamesteroh

If people have to do a lot of flying with a pet I could see why they would be tempted do it. If someone flies once a year with a pet and the fee is more reasonable like $50 each way (which is still a little too high in my opinion) people would be more likely to pay it and not get the pet registered as an ESA. Delta should also not consider the pet a carryon. I have been very lucky so far being able to take my rollarbag on but if a FA or GA ever says I have to gate check my rollarbag (which is absurd because if someone is travelling with a pet they sure don't want to waste time with the pet in line checking a bag and then waiting at baggage claim) I will seriously start looking at getting my cats registered as an ESA.