Limits set for pets on planes
 

With new federal rules requiring airlines to report the number of animals killed or injured on flights, several major carriers are refusing to allow pets to be checked as baggage this summer because of dangerous heat in cramped cargo holds.

In March, Congress approved new rules requiring U.S. airlines to disclose how many traveling pets are killed or injured. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals hailed ``a stunning win for animals that must travel by air.''
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP...on-Planes.html

speaking of traveling with pets- has anyone taken a small dog on an airplane, like in a special bag that you carry-on? i was told that you could do that in business class and tuck the bag under the seat in front of you. is this accurate for domestic and international flights? has any one had experience doing this?

Funtime, carriage of pets is an individual airline policy and not a standard rule or regulation. Your best bet is to check with the airline you plan to travel on. If it is allowed, then yes it's the small carrier that fits under your seat. It must be contained and provide adequate breathing holes (like you wouldn't think of that).

Warning: be prepared for the crew to coo over your pet and take it like a proud mom! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

talking about animals on planes....
one of my lax-cdg flights had been diverted because of the 'storm of the century' last december. we landed at heathrow instead and the flight was canceled, we were on our own getting to paris.

there were two pet owners on the plane who had a fit because their pooch had to stay in quarantine as soon as they exited the plane! these people never planned to london of course, and here they were, trying to convince animal control to let them get out of the plane with their pets. to no vail of course.

thanks for the input. a friend of mine has a dog who had puppies. i would love to take one back from amsterdam with me (northwest) but i don't know if it would be cruel for a puppy to be on a plane for that long.

i'll check with NW on their policies. thanks again.

I did an article for a Web Site recently on Traveling with your pets...

Go www.pinkonline.com Then CLick on "travel" then scroll down about halfway to the April edition for an article on Pet Travel.

It lists some basic tips on what to do.

And some additional advice: get a Shepra Bag, which is recommended by the major airlines for traveling with your pet. (www.sherpa.com)

It's not a cheap bag but the best bag I ever had for the cats.

You can get them at any major pet store chain or Web site. IF you buy thru Petopia and have a ClickRewards acct you can get points for airline miles.

thanks, catman- where do you find these obscure articles?

I have seen small dogs in the cabin on domestic flights in France. It's always been on small aircraft - no more than 40 seats. That's not to say it doesn't occur on larger planes there - I've just never seen it.

Taking pets on international flights probably has more to do with customs regulations than anything else. Small isolated countries, like the British Isles, are terrified of rabies infestations and require lengthy periods of quarentine for incoming pets.

I Have seen it here...to my chagrin. I was flying delta last month a the lady next to me had a dog in the bag under the seat. She of course had to take it out and hold it on her lap. The flight attendent had her EVentially put it back in the bag. I'm scared of dogs (bitten by german shepard at age two). Horrible experience. People are so inconsiderate. What if instead of a dog you changed the pet involved to Rat, Snake,Spider,Weasel,Skunk etc... You wouldn't feel the same way would you? And of course last night the guy next to me on CO had a dog in a bag. Thereforre the correct answer is... sure you get to bring your dog on a flight as long as you sit next to cigarman http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif

funtime- To answer your question, "Where do you find these obscure articles?" He does NOT simply find them, but rather he WRITES them! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

BTW- Here's a direct link: http://www.pinkonline.com/article/20...avelpets.shtml

Catman is the reputable writer/author Mark! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Traveling on AA BOX-LAX, a couple carried up these two duffle bags. I thought nothing of them until about an hour into the flight, they opened the bags and out came these two little dogs.

They'd been so quiet I didn't even realize those "duffle bags" were pet carriers. So the dogs were cute, and quiet and that was good. However, I can definitely imagine scenarios where the addition of pets would be a HUGE problem. With those soft-skin duffle bags, I'm not sure they would have been able to check-in their pets unless AA had spare pet enclosures [the solid ones].

Most major airlines announced rules last month restricting pets traveling as pax checked luggage in the baggage compartments of planes- at least during the summer. But industry sources say seasonal embargoes are just the beginning and airlines are soon likely to require that pets going by air be handled by commercial shippers, a more expensive proposition for owners. A medium-size dog traveling as luggage may cost $50 one way; shipped professionally, with someone charged with going to retrieve the kennel if the weather turns bad or the flight is canceled, the cost may be $700.

Though pet owners may be unhappy, but the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which considers air travel a poor choice for pets, is on the airlines' side, said Nancy Blaney, who heads the organization's national legislative office in Washington. The hazards are great if animals end up waiting among the suitcases in extreme heat or cold when a connection is missed. The ASPCA, and with other animal advocates, believes hazards are lessened if cargo companies take on the task when animals absolutely must travel by air. Animals with breathing difficulties, pug-nosed ones for example, should never go by air. Airlines' recent actions do not affect the transport of small animals- cats, small dogs, hamsters and such- in the cabin in under-the-seat kennels; this is still permitted, with limits on numbers, by seven major domestic airlines, but NOT Southwest, which does NOT carry pets at all.

While DL said on May 12 that it was embargoing the travel of pets as checked luggage for June-August, and 10 days later CO announced a year-round rule that after June 1 larger pets would be accepted as cargo only, the steps did not seem to be linked directly to recent Congressional adoption of the "Boris Bill," which requires airlines to report to the government the total number of animals carried and how many die or are injured. Boris is a dog whose dreadful trip to New York in 1996 gave rise to a campaign for greater care for animals in the air. New restrictions come at the season when extreme heat often leads airlines to refuse animals anyway. In addition, airline spokesmen say the number of people taking their pets on vacation has been rising steadily, although no one has an accurate count. And, as one airline spokesman said on condition of anonymity, an airline would rather pass up the $50 it charges for checking an animal as luggage than risk the barrage of bad publicity that follows a pet's injury or death.

This does NOT mean that dogs and cats cannot travel by air. Despite the seeming anomaly, experts agree that they usually travel better as cargo than as accompanied luggage.

CO's new rule requires owners to ship pets as cargo with the company's Quickpak Live Animal Program, which the line says has a 24-hour help desk and climate-controlled vehicles for connections in Houston or Newark. The airline says the cost depends on the size of the kennel, (average price of $170).

Pet owners may also use professional animal shippers, although shippers generally say they do not move pets for vacation trips. There are 93 worldwide members of the Independent Pet and Animal Transportation Association, Box 747, Highway 2869, Big Sandy, Tex. 75755
www.ipata.com.

These companies transport animals for families that are moving. Millie Woolf, head of Air Animals in Tampa, Fla. (Web site www.airanimal.com) and spokeswoman for the group, said: "The airlines have more control over cargo than over luggage. It's booked in advance and prearranged."

As for accommodating the vacationing dog, she said she'd work it out, but it is an impractical option. She said she took animals only from clients like IBM that had established an identity with her. "I need a week to make an individual person a known shipper," she said. "It will cost a minimum of $700 each way because if it is going to be a hot day, I have to pick up the animal to get it to the airport at 6 a.m. while it's still cool. And make arrangements for it to be met. "A woman from Miami called me last week because her dog had to go to Boston for his four weeks at the lake. I told her it would cost $1,000 each way. The weather's fine now. When that dog comes back, it will be too hot in Miami. To be sure the animal arrives in a cool period, I may have to route it through California on the red eye. That can't be good for a dog. We recommend a dog sitter."

Rules for shipping animals are explained by the Air Transport Association at www .air-transport.org; click on Pet Travel Guidelines. The ASPCA advice is found at
www.aspca.org

& type "travel" in the search box. The United States Department of Agriculture has a site at www.aphis.usda.gov. Government requirements for transportation of animals can be heard at (800) 545-8732 and the Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service can be reached at (301)734-7833 between 8am-4:30pm.

With summer again fast approaching, thought I'd reprise this thread for pet owners planning an upcoming summer trip! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Hey cigarman, lighten up!!! Whats wrong with a traveling critter like a rat, weasel, skunk, spider or occasional snake? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/tongue.gif

EA/AA/FA wrote June 24, 2000:

QUOTE Noooooo! This is a true story, and I have the scars to prove it. It was my second trip ever - SJU to JFK - I'll never forget it. I was working F/C and the rest of the crew was junior to me - it was their first flight.
A local entrepreneur brought on a flighting rooster in his carry on, and tucked it securely under the seat in front of him. About 1/3 of the way through the 4 1/2 hour flight (somewhere over the Bermuda Triangle) the rooster started crowing. Well, guess what? There was another rooster on board. The owners were trying to quiet the birds, and in so doing, the roosters came out of their bags. They jumped into open the overhead rack and the fight started. People began screaming and moving to the back of the DC-8 stretch. One rooster flew out of the overhead rack and drop-kicked me on the back of my leg between the bottom of my hotpants and the top of my go-go boot. Blood was everywhere. The Second Officer came out of the cockpit with the fire ax, and the owners started screaming. It took about an hour to throw blankets over the birds and shove them into separate lavs.

More stories to follow..... Aaaah the good old days. Now that was flying!

Well, what I didn't say was: Kathy, working in Coach came bounding through the cabin divider curtain screaming "There's a cock fight in the airplane".
Trying to follow proceedure, I went to the interphone in the F/C galley and rang the cockpit. I said "Captain, there are fighting cocks in the back cabin." His response was: "HAHAHAHAHA", and he hung up. No one came out of the cockpit.

Now, a rooster is strutting up the aisle. I ran to the cockpit, grabbed the door, and the entire door came off the the hinges. There I am with the salad cart in the aisle, a rooster strutting up the aisle, and I am holding the entire cockpit door in my hand.

That is when the Second Officer decided to come out with the fire ax.

Yep! Six stitches in my right leg.
END QUOTE.

and on June 25, 2000

QUOTE.....and then there was the time a EWR/SJU passenger brought on his dearly departed mother in a garment bag and hung her in the closet..... True story.....I was there. END QUOTE

QUOTE RDURES1 Because he didn't want to pay the extra to have her shipped..as for the chickens..a friend of mine in res got a call from a pax wanting to take chickens back to guess where?PAP of course. The conversation degenerated until my friend told the pax he could bring the chickens on board if he would cook them first. End of phone call. END QUOTE

Laughing hysterically,
k