Dog Jaunt

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway I announced last Monday for a large all-black The One Bag pet carrier (value: $140)! This time, I asked entrants to leave a comment with their best pet travel tip — and the comments were so terrific that I’ll be publishing them in a separate post tomorrow. I’m bursting with pride — Dog Jaunt readers are such clever, thoughtful people.

Photo by One for Pets

But the giveaway, you ask — who won? The randomly-chosen winner is Susan, entrant #13, who travels with her pup Henry. Congratulations!! Please e-mail me your shipping address, Susan, and I’ll get your new carrier to you.

Thank you again, and three cheers for One For Pets, which kindly sent me a sample carrier to review and give away. Stay posted: I’ll be reviewing another intriguing carrier soon — this time, an around-town tote — and then giving it away to a Dog Jaunt reader.

Last Tuesday, I posted a review of The One Bag, a pet carrier that can be lengthened by unzipping gussets at both ends — and collapses into a neat rectangular packet when you’re not traveling.

Photo by One for Pets

One for Pets sent me their large-sized carrier, which is roughly 19″L x 11.5″W x 11.5″H pre-expansion (and can gain 4 more inches in length). It’s all black, which I prefer because it minimizes the perceived size of a carrier. The large-sized carrier is iffy as an in-cabin option (as, indeed, the One for Pets folks told me), but you may be able to carry it off. It would be a terrific carrier for use on the bus or other public transit, and could do well as a pet’s day lounge if your workplace is pet-friendly. It can be secured with a seatbelt, so it would work as a car carrier too.

Because the price of the carrier is $140, I’m obliged by my own rules to give it away. Thanks so much to One for Pets for sending me The One Bag to inspect, and for agreeing that I can give it away to one of you!

How To Enter

One lucky reader can win. If you would like a chance to win, leave a comment with a dog travel tip of your own (if you’ve been following the blog for any period of time, you’ll know that I post a lot of reader’s reports, and I’d like to hear more of your ideas) before 11:59 PM PST on Monday, May 14, 2012. Please fill in the e-mail field of the comment form (your e-mail address isn’t shared with anyone, and I will not send you e-mail unless you win).

Announcing the winner

I will choose a winner randomly and announce the results here, on Dog Jaunt’s Facebook page, and in Dog Jaunt’s Twitter feed on Wednesday, May 16, 2012.

Rules

Please, only one comment per person per giveaway post. Duplicate comments and anonymous comments will be discarded. Please make sure that the e-mail address in your comment form is valid (e-mail addresses are never public). Winners must claim their prize within three business days after the date of notification of such prize. A sweepstakes winner’s failure to respond to the prize notification and provide a shipping address within the specified three business days will be considered such sweepstakes winner’s forfeiture of the prize and an alternate winner may be selected from the pool of eligible entries. If an entrant is found to be ineligible, an alternate winner may also be selected from the pool of eligible entries. To enter, you must be a U.S. resident, age 18 or older. Employees, partners and vendors of Dog Jaunt and their immediate family members are not eligible to enter. Entries that appear to be generated by scripts and other automated technology will be disqualified. When applicable, the winner may be required to execute and return within five business days an Affidavit of Eligibility and a Liability and Publicity Release to be eligible for the prize or an alternate winner will be selected. All prizes will be awarded. No substitutions including for cash are permitted, except that Dog Jaunt reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater monetary value for any prize. Winners shall be responsible and liable for all federal, state and local taxes on the value of their prize.

P.S. If you like this giveaway, and want to share it with your friends, please use one (or more!) of the buttons below.

Time for another mighty Chloe’s Clicks — mighty overdue, in fact, which wouldn’t normally be a big problem except that the first link is a lovely collection of suggestions from Have Dog Blog Will Travel for…dog-friendly spring breaks. However, there is absolutely nothing stopping you and your dog from taking another vacation in the San Francisco Bay area, Southern California, Colorado, Utah, or Wisconsin. The Go Pet Friendly Winnebago has left Austin — and while it rolled along the Natchez Trace Parkway, Rod and Amy and the boys also hosted a great post from the Roxy the Traveling Dog team about visiting Sedona with a dog.

Other destination posts you should check out include a delightful one from A Brooklyn Dog’s Life about taking your dog with you to the DeKalb Market, in the Fort Greene neighborhood; a slightly vexed (but ultimately happy) one from NorthJersey.com about finding an inviting dog-friendly hotel on the Jersey shore; and an informative one from the Seattle P-I about dog-friendly places to eat on the Eastside (that is, in the communities of Kirkland, Bellevue, Issaquah, Bothell, and Woodinville).

I also got an e-mail from the proprietor of Canine Camp Getaway of NY, letting me know about the annual events she runs: “We do one Getaway event per year, held this year from June 24-28 in Lake George, NY, and our dog guests split pretty evenly between large dogs and small dogs. But what makes our Getaways special is that this isn’t just a vacation where dogs are allowed, it’s a vacation where dogs are celebrated — and, indeed, welcomed everywhere from the swimming pool to the bar at Yappy Hour to the dining room. We offer a host of dog activities (swimming, hiking, agility, lure coursing, Frisbee, flyball, canine freestyle dancing, scent detection), classes (Canine CPR, Therapy Dog and Canine Good Citizen preparation and testing, ‘Barks & Crafts’), games and seminars by top veterinarians, trainers and dog nutrition professionals. It’s not only a lot of fun for the dogs, it’s also a great way for the humans to have fun meeting like minded dog lovers.” Intriguing, right? I’ve provided the link so you can check it out, if you like.

If you simply can’t bring your dog with you, there’s another site that wants to help you: Dog Vacay (announced in a splash of publicity a couple of weeks ago) now has a competitor in a company called Rover.com, and here’s an article from the New York Post that talks about the two services.

We move on to a clutch of articles about places becoming more pet-friendly, including Long Beach and its restaurant patios (following L.A. County’s similar move, earlier this year) and Chicago (fingers crossed). As I said on Dog Jaunt‘s Facebook page, I really like the the matter-of-fact approach of a proprietor of a popular Chicagoland dog-friendly spot: “Common courtesy rules, he said. ‘From time to time, if there’s a dog that’s aggressive, they couldn’t stay. It rarely, if ever, happens.’” An article from Michigan’s Standard-Examiner reports on the success a local mall (Partridge Creek) is having with its dog-friendly policy, and, more generally, about dog-friendly workplaces and stores.

You can help your dog become a good traveler, says Travels with My Dog‘s Helen Fazio — she and Raja are inveterate travelers, so you know her tips are going to be good. Also good: A post from Montecristo Travels about being prepared for emergencies while you’re on the road.

Not good? Yet another article from Christopher Elliott about pet travel, this time in National Geographic, and just as much of a mess as the one he wrote for Frommer’s last fall. For starters, there is absolutely no evidence whatever that a “long-haired Norwegian forest cat in seat 12A” would have any effect whatever on an allergic traveler “in 17D,” and it is deeply irresponsible to suggest that there is. And the throwaway line about how other passengers deserve a “bite-free trip,” implying that bites are also commonplace? That’s bad reporting, designed — yet again — to stir up controversy (and page views), without contributing intelligently to the discussion.

I can’t end with that. Instead, I’m going to leave you with a couple of great posts (and tons of great pictures) from The Road Unleashed: The first is about entering Croatia with dogs, and pet-friendly Istria, and the other is about pet-friendly Zagreb. Good wishes to the gang as they head into Turkey!

This post was inspired by the results of a recent Walk Score survey, published in The Atlantic, listing the 25 “best cities for public transit” in the U.S. At the top of the list is New York, and Raleigh, NC is at the bottom. I’ve been researching the pet policies of major public transit systems since Dog Jaunt’s earliest days, and I’ve been happily surprised by the results. Most public transit systems do allow pets on board, though it has to be added that small pets in containers are the rule — there are some U.S. cities (like Seattle) that allow large, leashed dogs on board, but they are the exception.

Of the top 15 cities listed in the article, 12 are already covered in Dog Jaunt’s handy guide to public transit pet policies. The three that are missing are Miami, Milwaukee and Cleveland, so I did some research, and here’s what I’ve learned:

Miami and environs is served by Miami-Dade Transit (MDT) and its Metrobus, Metrorail (rapid transit), Metromover (downtown), and STS (flexible paratransit) systems. While there is an “Animal” page for each system, they’re not currently working. The customer service rep I spoke to told me that small pets, fully enclosed in a carrier, are allowed on all forms of public transit.

The Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) operates a fleet of buses in Milwaukee and Milwaukee County. Pets are not allowed on board: “Properly controlled service animals accompanying persons with disabilities are the only animals permitted on the bus.”

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA, but more commonly RTA) operates trains and buses in Cleveland and surrounding communities. The customer service rep I spoke to told me that pets 35 lbs. or under may travel on all forms of RTA transit as long as they are fully contained in a carrier and are in their owner’s company at all times. There is no fee for your pet.

Milwaukee is one of the rare larger U.S. cities — Austin is another — that does not allow pets to travel on public transit. For me, that would instantly drop it down, or even off, a list of “best cities for public transit.” Pet owners who cannot afford a car, or who prefer to reduce congestion and pollution by choosing not to own a car, should have the option of taking at least their small pets to the vet, work, or day care by public transit.

Yet again, I have you guys to thank for this one: What did I think of The One Bag, asked a reader [Maureen] whose name is now lost in the mists of Facebook? I scrabbled around on Google, found the bag, and thought that I’d really like to see it in person. I was intrigued because, like the Kobi Pet Carrier I reviewed in March, the carrier expands in length on demand. Unlike the Kobi carrier, it can be collapsed into a tidy rectangular packet for storage. The folks at One for Pets kindly agreed to send me one to poke and prod, and it arrived last week. I have not been paid for this review, and I did not promise (and One for Pets did not request) that it would be positive. The One Bag carrier costs more than $50, so I will be giving it away to one lucky Dog Jaunt reader (total value: $140). I’ll provide the giveaway details in a separate post on Monday, May 7, 2012.

Photo by One for Pets

The One Bag comes in two sizes. The small size is 16″L x 9″W x 9″H pre-expansion (and can gain 5.5 more inches in length); the large size is 19″L x 11.5″W x 11.5″ H pre-expansion (and can gain 4 more inches in length). Please note that these measurements were taken from the company’s website; I found that the large size had slightly different measurements in person (see below). I asked for a sample of the large size, given that Chloe stands about 12″ tall at her shoulders. I asked for it in black, because I like to minimize the perceived size of a bag that pushes (and in fact exceeds) the maximums of many U.S. and international airlines. The rep at One for Pets cautioned me that the large size “is not designed to fit under the airline seat although it may fit under some. The small size definitely fits under most airlines’ seats.” She’s right, of course, but I asked for the large size anyway, since most of the inquiries I get are from people who own a larger small dog like Chloe.

The carrier arrives in its storage bag, collapsed into a rectangle 19″ long, 12″ wide, and 3″ deep.

The One Bag, collapsed, in its storage bag

Assembled, the large size measures 20″ long at its base, and 14.5″ long at its top (the ends are therefore angled, as you can see in the first picture above). At its base, the carrier is 11.5″ wide, narrowing to about 9.5″ wide at its top. At each end, the carrier is indeed 11.5″ tall. Between the ends, however, it’s more like 10″ tall (but see below). Each end can be unzipped so that gussets provide more length. Each adds about 2.25″ of extra room. (The padded insert that stiffens the bottom of the carrier has two short wings, normally folded under and secured with Velcro tabs, that can be extended to fill the new spaces.)

The One Bag is made of ballistic nylon and comes in olive, navy and black (the site also shows a brick color, but that’s apparently not currently offered). It has generous mesh ventilation panels on four of the five possible sides; the fifth side is occupied by a luggage handle panel, created when two parallel zippers are unzipped. Behind them is a very clever seat belt solution, allowing the bag to be secured with the lap portion of a car’s three-point belt.

There is a pocket on one of the ends — not huge, but big enough for a roll of poop bags, a minimal leash, and your pet’s travel papers, folded into quarters. Access to the bag is via either end (both of which have zippered doors). The top, too has a zippered opening, but it would be a tight fit for a pet. It wins points from me, though, for being see-through mesh and for the zipper, which allows you to reach in easily and pat your pet.

The shoulder strap has a comfortable pad. It clips at either end with a sturdy nylon buckle, so you won’t be using it as an emergency leash (unlike the Kobi carrier’s strap). There is a tether sewn inside, at the top of one of the long sides. This carrier is all about zippers (there are three on each end, three on the sides, and one on the top), so it’s a very good thing that the zippers are good-quality and function smoothly.

Chloe in the large One Bag, not yet extended at either end

As you can see, Chloe is very comfortable in the large-sized One Bag. What you can’t see is that she chose to remain it it for, literally, hours after I took her picture. She was interested but not alarmed by the activity involved in extending the ends while she was inside the carrier; even the ripping Velcro sound of the base extensions being unfolded didn’t seem to upset her. She was content even before the extensions were deployed, but willingly stretched out to fill the full space when it became available to her. I would have no problem carrying her in this bag, since although the bag is 10″ tall at the height of the support “beams” that run along the long sides of the carrier’s top, the top panel itself will easily lift up another 1″ to 1.5″ as your pet pushes against it.

Will it work as an in-cabin carrier? The small size would work like a dream, no question. The large size is iffy. Its height would work, I think, in most situations. Because the ends are the same height and width, turning the bag on its side doesn’t solve any problems (and in fact, the rectangular padded base would not work on a trapezoidal side). The ends are tall, and stiffened, but the middle part of the top panel is significantly shorter. It, too, is stiffened (with the support “beams” I mentioned in the last paragraph), but those bars are only 10″ off the ground — and without too much effort, you can press them down to about 8″ off the ground. The panel suspended between them is unsupported, so would mold itself readily around an under-seat electronics box.

You cannot, however, shorten the padded base of the carrier (compare the SturdiBag, where you can access the stiffener and saw off an inch if you like), so you’re stuck with the basic 20″ length. That’s a long bag, comparable to the extra-large SturdiBag, which sticks out significantly into your legroom area. On balance, I’d choose to use the large One Bag carrier as a car travel bag, or a bag that I’d take on the bus or other public transit, and then use at work as my pet’s day lounge. If you own a pet that is 9″ at the shoulders or less, you should give serious thought to buying the small One Bag for an in-cabin carrier.

This is a good, quality carrier — a lot of thought has gone into its design, and the construction is impressive. When I started writing this blog, I jeered at collapsible carriers (what need? was essentially my attitude), but I’m not jeering any more. The One Bag returns easily to its storage bag, and that’s a very nice feature indeed.

I haven’t flown into or out of San José since we got Chloe (which is a terrible shame, because, like Oakland’s airport, it’s a huggable alternative to the beast that is SFO), so I was happy to get an e-mail from an SJC marketing rep telling me about the airport’s pet relief areas. Here’s what I’ve learned from her messages and photos, and from Google Maps — keep in mind that I haven’t visited them yet myself, so this is not a review, but the pictures are good, and the directions will be helpful:

There are two pet relief areas, one each outside Terminals A and B. Southwest and Alaska arrive at Terminal B; all other airlines, and international flights, arrive at Terminal A.

To find the Terminal A pet relief area, locate the ticketing desks and walk out the front door that accesses them. Turn left and walk all the way down the sidewalk — past a huge set of stairs, past a graveled smoking area, past the bus stop — and when the sidewalk ends you’ll see this:

SJC's Terminal A pet relief area

Here’s a Google Maps link to orient you, if you need it, but it’s really as straightforward as it sounds. As you can see, it’s not fenced. It’s essentially a planting strip equipped with a pole bearing poop bags and a trash can.

To find the Terminal B pet relief area, walk out the front door of the terminal and turn left. Look for a long blue awning. Right where it begins, you’ll find the pet relief area. (Again, here’s a Google Maps link. Spin the dial around in the upper left corner of the window, and you’ll see where the pet relief area is in relation to the main terminal building.)

SJC's Terminal B pet relief area, with blue awning

Terminal B pet relief area, from its entrance

Now that’s more like it: It’s fenced, there’s a bench and a source of water — and of course there are poop bags and a trash can. If your pet isn’t responsive to artificial turf, there’s plenty of nearby grass. No doubt the SJC folks would prefer that I didn’t mention alternatives, but the fact is that some dogs don’t like turf. Be sure to clean up after your pup with the bags, and trash can, the airport has provided.

It is quite do-able to walk to this pet relief area from Terminal A — there is a sidewalk the whole way, and your dog (and you!) might like the leg-stretch. When you exit Terminal A’s ticketing area, just turn to the right instead.

My thanks to the team at SJC for being so proactive about letting the dog travel community know about their facilities! I’ve added this post to Dog Jaunt’s handy guide to airport pet relief areas.

Reader Karen and I conferred last year about a trip she was planning to take from Boston to Long Beach, via Jet Blue. Ella, her young Lhasa Apso (Ella weighs 13 lbs.), had never flown before, and Karen was understandably nervous. The trip finally happened just before Christmas, and here’s Karen’s report:

Preparing for travel

“We had the Large SturdiBag for over a year (since we intended to but never did travel last winter) and although I practiced putting her in it at first, later I just left it sitting around so at least she was used to being around it. For her car seat I use a ‘Fido Rido’ but about a month before our trip I started putting her in the Sturdibag when I took her in the car.

I booked aisle and window ‘Even More Legroom’ seats for my husband and me on Jet Blue. I purposely booked a 6pm flight since it would give me time to make sure Ella got tired during the day, and the darkness and inherent quiet of a night flight would be calming.

I put one DryFur pad under the sheepskin and one on top. I debated it, ’cause the sheepskin seemed more cozy, but I figured if she did pee (which she didn’t) it would not be cozy at all! I got the Medium size which I think they recommended, but I noticed the sides are supposed to go up a little along the sides of the carrier, which mine really didn’t, but I still think it would have worked fine.

I put Ella’s health certificate, some other vet records, her photo and the SturdiBag brochure in a clear plastic folder in my very large personal carry-on/laptop bag. My husband had a large computer bag with the [PetEgo 'Pet Dome'] ‘pup tent’ (more on that later) and his small laptop.”

At the airport

“There was no issue at all at [Logan's] baggage check desk!

Oh, with the help of an airport worker taking a break outside, I found Logan Airport’s Terminal 3 ‘pet area,’ which is to the right as you walk outside leaving the Jet Blue luggage area. It’s tucked in sort of an alcove, not lit at all, so for us it was too dark and scary. Not even sure what the surface was, definitely not grass — more like tar or something. But it is gated so in daylight hours it may work for others. [Here's a link to a map of Logan Airport: Click on "Go Inside Logan Airport," then, on the resulting map, click on Terminal C. You'll get a close-up of the terminal. At the bottom, click on the arrow next to "To Terminal C Arrivals map." At the bottom of the resulting page, click on the blue "Services" box, and an icon for the pet relief area will appear.]

One reason I chose to land in Long Beach is that in addition to being Jet Blue’s hub, it is small and you get off the plane outside, walk down a ramp then into the airport for about 10 steps, then outside again to baggage claim. There is a grassy area just behind the patio tables. So once you land you are only a few minutes from relief!”

On the plane

“I took the window as it seemed that she fit best with the carrier’s front facing my legs. It actually stuck out a few inches but since we had “more room” it wasn’t an issue. I just made sure to place my legs in front of me when the attendant passed so as not to draw attention to her. I did take your suggestion of opening the zipper (I did the front) just enough to bend down and pat her during takeoff (which was not bad,) and landing (which was bad and she freaked a little but it was over quickly).

A huge lucky break was that no one bought the middle seat, so after takeoff I placed the carrier on that seat with the opening against my left arm which I used to pat her when needed. But once she was off the floor next to me she was fine, and pretty much napped the whole 6 hour flight.

I was very excited when I got the ‘pup tent’ that unfolds and is longer than the carrier, but with the option of the middle seat I didn’t get to try it out. I would have to buy the middle seat as #2 if I wanted to use it since it definitely is wider than one seat, so I’ll have to think about that for my return trip in the spring.

I did buy an iced drink before boarding and used that and ice from the drink they served to give her ice chips throughout the pre-board and flight. She really liked that, and I don’t think I could have hydrated her any other way, so thanks again for the great tip!”

In conclusion

“When we landed at Long Beach, a flight attendant at the door looked at my carrier with surprise and said ‘My Gosh, she didn’t make a peep!’ Not sure they even knew she was on board. A couple of people at the baggage claim said ‘Was that dog on that flight?’ YAY, ELLA!! I was so proud of her! Since I have noticed that most people on Dog Jaunt report that their dogs do well, I wasn’t nearly as nervous as I could have been. I can’t thank you and all your Dog Jaunters enough! And Jet Blue gets A+ from me!”

And you, Karen (and Jack, and Ella!), get an A+ from me, for all your prep work and concern and caring, and for your kindness in passing on the details of your experience to other travelers with dogs. As you said yourself, hearing about other people’s experiences makes all the difference. Thank you! (And please let us know how the return trip goes!)

I saw some tweets about a new water taxi service between Bellingham, WA and the San Juan Islands, so I called and spoke with owner Bill McGown, who told me that pet dogs are welcome on board, for no additional fee. If you think they’ll be uneasy on a boat, a carrier might be a good idea, but it’s not required. There’s a patch of carpet in the cabin for them to lie down on (or hook their toenails into, for stability!).

The Leap Frog site is still pretty minimal, but this article from the Bellingham Business Journal has some more details. I’m excited about the scheduling flexibility the service offers, and I’m intrigued by the access the taxi provides non-boat owners like me to smaller islands — including islands that don’t have docks. (The big Washington State Ferries boats go to the four large islands — San Juan, Orcas, Lopez and Shaw; pet dogs must be in a carrier or stay on the car deck.)

Last fall, reader Dolce sent me some great photos and information about a vacation she and Maia, her Yorkie mix, had taken on Cape Cod. She kindly followed up with a message about a weekend trip to Eastern Pennsylvania — not the easiest part of the world in which to find a good dog-friendly hotel, but she did, and here’s her report.

Dolce and Maia in front of The Lafayette Inn

“We ended up in Easton [about 65 miles west of New York, and about 50 miles north of Philadelphia] at The Lafayette Inn (“We welcome dogs and cats traveling with their well-behaved owners in rooms 1, 2, and 3. Bowls, mat, towel, treats, and clean-up bags are provided. There is a $20 per night additional charge. Pets must be kenneled when left alone in the room. We also offer a Pampered Pet Package.”)

Rooms 1 & 2 have a private entrance to the yard + parking, so you can just go out for a short walk if you need to. We booked Room 1 which is en suite, and had a parlor area with a sofa and space for Maia & her bed — although you would have had enough space for a Great Dane as well, not just a 10 lb. Yorkie. Upon arrival, Maia was greeted and petted, and offered a treat. In the room, we had the promised food bowls, towel for clean up, and poop bags.

There is a garden around the inn where you can walk your dog if you want. The neighborhood is residential and rather quiet — as long as your dog is on leash, you are fine there (beside the occasional squirrel, that is…). The inn is literally 5 minutes away from Lafayette College and the campus is pet-friendly too — we were not the only dog people there on Saturday morning. Maia loved stretching on the grass when we stopped to rest, and otherwise exploring.

The inn people are friendly and can show you pet-friendly trails around Easton, for quiet walks in the woods. We had a real nice stay there — it was a quiet place and even though I saw other people with dogs in the inn, there was no noise/smell/anything indicating dogs were around!”

It sounded like such a nice weekend getaway that I was hoping I’d be able to tell you that you could get there from NYC or Philly by public transit, but that turns out not to be the case (the best transit option from/to Easton is a bus — and the buses that run there, including Trans-Bridge Lines, don’t allow pet dogs on board). Load up the car for this one! Thanks so much, Dolce, for the report — dog-friendly B&B’s are thin on the ground, and it sounds like you found an excellent one.

I’d love to see how you and your pup spent your time together this week — please post your photos on Dog Jaunt’s Facebook page so we can all see them!

Reader Eva took a couple of flights with her cat Bogart last month, and kindly send me a report about the under-seat spaces she encountered. They flew on American, and their planes were a CRJ-700 and an MD-80. Bogart’s carrier is an older hard-sided Petmate Kennel Cab measuring 19″ x 11″ x (just over) 10″ (Eva noted that the current version has slightly different measurements: 19″ x 12.6″ x 10″).

Here’s what she told me:

“The maximum size a carrier can be on an American Airlines flight [per the AA website] is 19″ long x 13″ wide x 9″ high. My carrier is 10.25″ high. I had no trouble fitting the carrier on the CR7 plane in an economy aisle seat. I would estimate the under-seat space to be around 11″ high. However, upon return on a S80 plane, the carrier did not fit all the way under the seat. A large bar (larger than that described in Dog Jaunt’s American 737-800 description, and characteristic of all seats regardless of aisle, middle or window) deterred the carrier from fitting.

Unfortunately, I did not have measuring tape with me to give you more accurate feedback. But a 19″ long x 13″ wide x 9″ high carrier will fit on a CR7 but not on a S80.”

I asked how the flight went for them, overall, and Eva said that “The trip went okay — the flight attendants either didn’t notice the kennel sticking out or didn’t care to delay the flight,” but Bogart, comfortable with car travel, was a bit overwhelmed by the airplane experience.

Thanks so much, Eva, for your report — I seldom fly on American, so I really appreciate your picking up my slack! All good wishes to you and Bogart, and fingers crossed that the next trip is a bit easier on her. I’ve added this post to Dog Jaunt’s ongoing series recording under-seat plane measurements.