A little note at the end of a Harriet Baskas article electrified me. “The list,” she wrote, referring to pet relief areas on the air (or “sterile”) side of security, “should get much longer soon: There’s a U.S. Department of Transportation ruling mandating that all air terminals that serve more than 10,000 daily passengers have a post-security pet relief area by August 2016.”… Read the rest
I’m losing patience with Alaska Airlines, so I’ll say up front that this is the airline’s policy as of today’s date; given their track record, check their page about pet travel carefully. Heaven only knows what their policy will be when you’re making your plans.… Read the rest
On November 4, I reported that Alaska Airlines had started requiring health certificates for in-cabin pets and expressed a fervent hope that the other major U.S. airlines would not follow suit. Imagine my surprise to learn today that Alaska has reversed itself, and returned to its previous hands-off policy (“A health certificate will not be required for pets traveling in the cabin, however, many states have specific importation health and vaccination requirements”).… Read the rest
In what is, I hope, a move that no other U.S. airline will follow, Alaska Airlines has decided to require a health certificate for pets flying in-cabin (Alaska also requires a health certificate for crated pets checked as baggage/cargo, but that’s normal policy for U.S.… Read the rest
This is a two-part update, and I owe both parts to reader Giuliana, who wrote first to tell me that JetBlue now allows you to reserve an in-cabin spot for your pet online. As of at least June 16, the language on JetBlue’s JetPaws page stated that “Pets can be booked online or you can call 1-800-JETBLUE (538-2583).”… Read the rest
I learned about this policy change from reader Naomi, and sure enough, a Thai Airways customer service rep just confirmed that the airline stopped taking in-cabin pets “over a month ago.” This is such bad news, not just because Thai Air is a pleasant airline to fly on, but also because its maximums for in-cabin pet weight and carrier size were unusually generous.… Read the rest
10/18/13 Thanks to reader Rebecca for nudging me (see the comments below) to update this post. Since I wrote it, Southwest and AirTran have snuggled into a cozier embrace and now you can bring a pet on a “shared itinerary” (that is, travel plans that include flight legs on Southwest and AirTran planes).… Read the rest
I’m reposting this summary of the major international airlines’ policies regarding how your pet’s in-cabin carrier fits into your carry-on allowance because it’s been updated, and I’ve moved the info into a table, which is much easier to navigate than the list I originally provided.… Read the rest
I’ve updated this post (which originally went up on 7/30/12) with a chart. I think it’s easier to follow than the list approach I started with. Please note that the airline name is also a link to that airline’s pet policy page, so you can easily refer to the airline’s own site.… Read the rest
Please note that Alaska Airlines has changed its policy re health certificate for in-cabin pets three times since early December 2014. Here’s my most recent post about this maddening situation. Since I’ve learned that Things Change, often Without Warning, I urge you to click on the link I’ve provided for each airline name to double-check the current policy.… Read the rest
