Airlines that allow pets in international business class
Mar 11, 23, 9:02 am
#1
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Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 18
Airlines that allow pets in international business class
Trying to ascertain which airlines currently allow pets in business. Was thinking it may only be Lufthansa, but just saw a video of a lady traveling with her dog on United from Tokyo to Chicago.
Cheers!
Cheers!
Mar 11, 23, 1:46 pm
#2
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: BSL
Programs: AA (EXP); among others :)
Posts: 2,206
among larger, alliance-affiliated airlines I know the following do:
All the LH group airlines (LH, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels), both Korean carriers (Korean and Asiana), Iberia, Royal Air Maroc, ITA, Turkish, LOT, Ethiopian, Air Canada, Aeromexico, Aerolineas Argentinas, and (well..) Aeroflot.
And then there is specialty airline La Compagnie, a French all-business-class airline flying between New York and select European destinations, mainly Paris. They allow pets in the cabin with a 15kg weight limit, which is the most generous I know among regular scheduled passenger service. This is not a coincidence - when they first started out they did not allow pets in the cabin, but obviously they saw a business case for becoming pet-friendly around the same time Air France stopped to accept pets in business class.
ITA as the most generous of the alliance-affiliated airlines has a combined weight allowance of 10 kgs. Aeromexico has a combined weight limit of 9 kgs. All others are at 8kgs, the Koreans allow only 7 kgs.
Aeroflot carries pets free of charge on 'maximum' (=full fare) tickets. This is promoted as official benefit. I think that's unique.
United does not allow pets in business class on longhaul flights (Polaris seats). That video must either have been older, or the dog was not a pet but an ESAN/SVAN (now much more restricted as well, or the lady in question some kind of VIP where rules are bent sometimes.
The only US airline allowing pets in the cabin on aircraft with lie-flat seats is AA, and that solely on routes served by their A321T aircraft, and these are all domestic.
All the LH group airlines (LH, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels), both Korean carriers (Korean and Asiana), Iberia, Royal Air Maroc, ITA, Turkish, LOT, Ethiopian, Air Canada, Aeromexico, Aerolineas Argentinas, and (well..) Aeroflot.
And then there is specialty airline La Compagnie, a French all-business-class airline flying between New York and select European destinations, mainly Paris. They allow pets in the cabin with a 15kg weight limit, which is the most generous I know among regular scheduled passenger service. This is not a coincidence - when they first started out they did not allow pets in the cabin, but obviously they saw a business case for becoming pet-friendly around the same time Air France stopped to accept pets in business class.
ITA as the most generous of the alliance-affiliated airlines has a combined weight allowance of 10 kgs. Aeromexico has a combined weight limit of 9 kgs. All others are at 8kgs, the Koreans allow only 7 kgs.
Aeroflot carries pets free of charge on 'maximum' (=full fare) tickets. This is promoted as official benefit. I think that's unique.
United does not allow pets in business class on longhaul flights (Polaris seats). That video must either have been older, or the dog was not a pet but an ESAN/SVAN (now much more restricted as well, or the lady in question some kind of VIP where rules are bent sometimes.
The only US airline allowing pets in the cabin on aircraft with lie-flat seats is AA, and that solely on routes served by their A321T aircraft, and these are all domestic.
Last edited by bhomburg; Mar 12, 23 at 4:22 pm
Mar 12, 23, 6:12 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 18
Originally Posted by bhomburg
And then there is specialty airline La Compagnie, a French all-business-class airline flying between New York and select European destinations, mainly Paris. They allow pets in the cabin with a 15kg weight limit, which is the most generous I know among regular scheduled passenger service. This is not a coincidence - when they first started out they did not allow pets in the cabin, but obviously they saw a business case for becoming pet-friendly around the same time Air France stopped to accept pets in business class..
My mistake, video was someone flying from NYC to Tokyo in Polaris business seat. From 2018, so maybe they stopped allowing this:
Mar 13, 23, 3:28 am
#4
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: BSL
Programs: AA (EXP); among others :)
Posts: 2,206
She's giving it away in the description: Bogart is a physician-approved emotional support animal. so not a pet. This used to be a much-abused loophole that people used to get their pets on board that was closed by federal legislation in 2020.
She would not be able to repeat this today, as United stopped to accept ESAs on March1, 2021 after regulatory changes allowed them to do so (good article on the subject).
See their current regulations and compare to the ones in 2019:
And when I see that she allowed her dog on the furniture in the lounge (1:31) and ON the seat, cuddling in the bed - that's a huge no-no.
She can congratulate herself on being one of the reasons why ESAs are no longer a thing these days, and people with 'real' service dogs are subjected to ever increased levels of bureaucratic scrutiny.
She would not be able to repeat this today, as United stopped to accept ESAs on March1, 2021 after regulatory changes allowed them to do so (good article on the subject).
See their current regulations and compare to the ones in 2019:
And when I see that she allowed her dog on the furniture in the lounge (1:31) and ON the seat, cuddling in the bed - that's a huge no-no.
She can congratulate herself on being one of the reasons why ESAs are no longer a thing these days, and people with 'real' service dogs are subjected to ever increased levels of bureaucratic scrutiny.
