I'm traveling with my dog in-cabin on Saturday, last time I flew with him I got him a health certificate but it wasn't ever requested or checked. Do I need to get one? Going from Orlando to Chicago.

Not required.
https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly.../in-cabin.html

Returning a bit to the topic ...

Can someone tell me which seat (window, middle, aisle) is best in terms of under seat space on:

777-200

and

737-900

My wife will be bringing a puppy from Belgium back to CA in eight weeks. In cabin reservation has been made. We have done this trip with a puppy twice before on UA (no one even knew the puppy was there as it slept the entire trip), but it's been three years since the last puppy and I know the cabins and seats seem to be always changing. In particular, which seat(s) have the electronic boxes taking up space. FYI, it will be a soft sided carrier, so can always make due, but better to pick a seat without "extra" boxes under the seat.

Thanks in advance.

Was feeling lazy yesterday flying SEA-SFO with a cat in F on a 757-300. The website generally won't allow an in-cabin pet due to limited underseat storage, but I was in 1A with the massive cutout.

I checked-in online, went through security and showed up at the gate with my cat. Paid the $125 there, got a neon tag, and was able to keep my first class seat. Easy stuff.

Move this to any of the related threads if you want:

Sitting in 2F on UA 310 waiting for the door to close. Woman sitting in 1E has an ESA dog on her lap. Gate agent with a tablet comes on, addresses 2E by nameand offers him a $200etc to switch seats with 1E.

Best part, after the switch my new seatmate, the esa pax, gets on the phone with someone to complain about having to move back from row 1.


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I could see if it was a regular pet that had to go under the seat. But an ESA doesn't have to.

I am moving to Japan. I have done the prep work to take my dog with my (vaccinations, microchipping, FAVN test) but there is no more space available for pets on the military contract carrier / rotator with me next month when I move, so I'm looking at alternatives. I am considering coming back to the US for Christmas and taking him with me at that point.

I understand United has an exemption to their pets-must-travel-as-cargo policy for military and state department personnel -- it seems like the PetSafe program applies, but military / state dept personnel undergoing an official move / on orders can check in their pet at the counter and retrieve their pet at baggage claim, and don't have to pay extra for a customs agent or other cargo handling/fees/agents.

The itinerary I'm looking at flying back to Japan (and potentially with the dog) is SAT-SFO-NRT-OKA, on flights 5309, 837, and 7972 (an ANA codeshare). The flight durations are 4:12 (2 hr layover), then 11:20 (3 hr layover), then 3:15. The entire trip duration is 23:47.

Will this work? It is my understanding that I would need to book my dog twice - on United from SAT-NRT as part of their military/state dept exemption to their ban on checked animals, and then separately on ANA. I think the lengths of the flights would meet safety criteria, the aircraft call all accommodate a large kennel (not x-large or jumbo), and the duration is <24 hrs.

I of course will call UA to get word directly from them, but if anyone has experience doing this sort of thing or is an expert at pet travel, I'd love to hear your thoughts about this plan.

Thanks
-z

Does anyone know if having an in-cabin pet on your PNR blocks you from being CPU eligible? I've been told by agents that my reservation(s) are still marked as CPU eligible, but none of the indicators that normally show up are appearing (website and app both do not show eligible for upgrade as usual).

Obviously there's certain equipment that can't accommodate pets in the forward cabin due to there being no under seat storage, but for this equipment I've flown with in cabin pet in both F and Y cabins in the past and there's no prohibition on animals in the F cabin.

I have been UG'd via CPU many times with a "pet in cabin" ticket-the last time was a couple of years ago. Lately, I have been buying F when I fly with my dog, so I don't know if it will still work.

Why not? It's not an actual service dog in which case it should follow the same guidelines as paid pets in cabin -- underseat storage in a carrier that it can't get out of.

No, ESA's can be at your feet (and bigger than 20lbs), so under the seat in front of you is not necessary. That's for 'regular' pets. https://www.united.com/web/en-us/con...ls.aspx?POS=US

I finally got an agent to dig into things, and apparently an in-cabin pet on your PNR inhibits CPU eligibility/processing. You can have an agent at the airport add you to the list, but since cabins get mostly filled by advance CPU this likely means that you're going to be stuck in the back, or be given the last seat which will likely be a no-go for your pet (bulkhead). Especially when you're traveling with another passenger, and you want to have two seats together. I suppose that's just the way it is, but frustrating for two 1Ks to end up sitting in E+ on a route that often CPUs silvers...

The two obvious alternatives are to either wait until the CPU clears to add the pet to your PNR (but risks the flight being "at capacity" for pets already") or to take this as yet another absurd incentive to consider going the ESA route and stop playing by the rules and paying the in-cabin pet fee--which as an aside is just a mega pain logistically: no OLCI, no electronic boarding passes, and now no chance to be CPUed (on top of being charged a fee for literally no benefit).

I'm looking at traveling with a cat halfway across the country, my first time with a pet, and was curious about this. I'm looking at booking the "no carryon, personal item only" ticket and then paying the pet upcharge. When I travel alone, I usually have a bag of some basics and my iPad as a personal item. Since kitty goes under the seat, do I just tell people at the counters that the bag is my personal item (very careful to use that term and not "carryon") and put my usual bag in the overhead and hope nobody asks? Ideally I'll take my iPad out and stash the rest away since I expect this to be quite a trip. I actually called UA for confirmation and dealt with a person who told me that I'd have to pay a carryon upcharge for my iPad and then, after I asked him to look at the company site, changed his tune, so it seems like employees don't really know.

Finally, how does UA handle reservations etc with animals now? I see the ability to pay my pet upcharge is in their online reservations system. Do I still have to go to the ticket counter before security for tags etc? The reservations engine does say it only shows me planes/routes that will accept my pet, does this mean I don't have to do any sort of rush? One of the planes is a 777 and I've read about restrictions on those, but I'm not super plane-savvy so I'm not sure.

Mike my only obvious advice is to figure this out before you fly. Don't go to the airport and be surprised!

You will get good advice here, I am sure.

As someone with allergies to animal dander I like this rule. If I see an animal on a flight I make sure to enquire of the GA if the animal is seated near me, and if so then I ask to be moved. Most of the time I am in the FC cabin and the pet is way in the back in E-. I was seated in E+ (earlier this year) where someone with a pet was put in the bulkhead seat and had to be moved and was moved next to me by the FA (although I was not paying attention) and I did not realize until during take-off hen I started wheezing and my eyes started running. The pax with the pet told me there was no way her animal caused that reaction - fantastic, yes my eyes just start running and I start wheezing all of a sudden but it is not caused by your animal - irrespective I asked the FA to be moved once we were in the air and the FA told me I needed to sit in my assigned seat - I questioned why the pax with the pet was not in their assigned seat (to be told they could not sit in their assigned bulkhead seat) and so they found a seat further back for me. Yes, animals come before people on United (well at least that was my experience on that flight) so not feeling sorry for you about this rule about no CPU.

Your fee for the pet does provide you with a benefit as I have been informed by others on this forum that if it is between me and the pet boarding the plane it will be the pet that gets preference.