I am moving my family and I to Berlin next month and we are taking our dog and our cat. Our dog will certainly travel in cargo as she is 60+ lbs. Our cat, however, is a big boy, but still meets the regulations to be carried on board on American Airlines flights (20 lbs and under). We have to fly AA up to JFK and Air Berlin outbound. Our flight to Berlin operated by Air Berlin and only allows 13 lbs in the cabin. Our cat is right around 20 lbs with carrier. So will they weigh him at JFK before we board? Well they dismiss him immediately to cargo for the flight? Just trying to figure out if we should surrender him to cargo on the AA flight to JFK.

Thanks for your advice.

I have a 20 pound cat and I do not think he would meet the other requirements- a carrier that allows him to stand, that also fits under the seat. I assume you have checked that your carrier meets both of those requirements?

I can't tell you about AA, but I know that when we traveled with in-cabin pets on United (dogs), they were never, ever weighed. When we traveled with my cat in cabin on US Air (just the once), she was also not weighed. Don't know if AA weighs in-cabin pets, unfortunately, but I find it unlikely.

As far as I know the weight limit for carry-on baggage does not apply to animals - animals have their own specified weight limit for pet plus carrier, which generally is 8kg (17.6 lbs). That being said, AA will probably not weigh the cat and carrier unless it is very obvious that you are struggling with the weight of the carrier. I cannot comment on Air Berlin as I have never flown them. I can tell you that every carrier in the EU that I have flown with my cats on flights originating in the EU has weighed them.

However, how you phrased your comment about dismissing your cat immediately for cargo has me concerned that you have not made proper reservations for your animals. I could be wrong, so I apologize if you have already made the proper reservations. But you have to make reservations in advance for the pets for the flights, so you can't just decide that you will put the cat in cargo when you reserved a space in the cabin for it. And of course you will have to have the appropriate veterinarian certifications for Berlin, which may include an EU pet passport or a USDA certification.

When I flew from JFK to LCA via PRG on DL and Czech Airlines, I had to contact both DL and Czech Air to determine their requirements for cabin pets and meet the requirements of both airlines. DL told me I had to contact Czech Air even though they were a DL partner and it was a DL-codeshare flight. So in this case, I had to meet the most limiting weight requirement (it wasn't an issue because Trishka barely weighed 3kg at the time). I also had to make reservations for my cat individually on both airlines. Incidentally, DL did not weigh Trishka and her carrier, not did Czech Air (I'm not sure that they even had scales in the transit area in PRG). But perhaps it was because they could all see that she was a kitten in a softside carrier.