Why the "friendly skies" shouldn't fly man's best friend

United Airlines was back in the news last week, and not because the skies have become friendlier. In fact, if you’re man’s best friend there’s nothing to wag about.

After a United flight attendant ordered a French bulldog’s owner to stuff him into the overhead bin during a flight from Houston to New York, with fatal consequences, and then United flew two other pets in cargo to the wrong destinations (in one case, Japan instead of Kansas), and then, last Friday, United employees put a pet bound for Akron on a flight to St. Louis instead (on discovering the error, the plane was diverted mid-flight to Akron and then continued to St. Louis), it’s time to reconsider flying pets on commercial aircraft.

The U.S. D.O.T. estimates that around 500,000 household pets fly in cargo each year. In 2017, 24 died while flying on U.S. carriers, an improvement over 2016 when 26 went to doggie heaven. However, 18 of those casualties in 2017 flew on United while only two died on American and Delta (to be fair, for some reason United flies more pets than the other airlines); so while the odds are great that a pet will survive, it’s clear that United should not be your first choice.

Cabin pets are allowed to fly under the seat in front of you, for a fee, if they’re small enough to fit while staying in their container; but there are different rules for “service and support” animals, which fly for free if they qualify.

Delta Air Lines recently rewrote its rules on in-cabin service and support animals, requiring that customers with support animals fill out a “medical/mental health professional form” and a “confirmation of animal training form.” Other airlines, including United, have also stiffened requirements.

With this added paperwork, Delta clearly targets “support animal fraud.” I personally know several people who have designated their pets as support animals to avoid paying the cabin pet fee ($125 each way on American, United, and Delta, or $95 on Southwest) or simply to protect the animal from the hazards, and themselves from the much higher cost, of cargo.

Safer alternatives for pet travel exist but may involve extra expense and time. Traveling trans-continental between New York and either LA or San Francisco? American Airlines’ Airbus A321T aircraft offer customers in business and first class a spacious “cabin” (really a closet) where pets, in their carriers, are stowed during take-off, landing, and turbulence; during the flight they can return to their owner’s seat (there’s no under seat storage in those cabins). United, in contrast, doesn’t allow pets in premium cabins on several aircraft types, owing to the lack of under-seat storage.

Obviously, passengers traveling with larger pets can avoid the perils of cargo when traveling within the Americas by driving instead of flying, or by flying private. Irgo, the German shepherd United mistakenly sent to Japan instead of to Kansas earlier this week, was flown back to Wichita, on a private charter, at United’s expense. His owner said she would drive next time (good idea). 

For owners of larger animals relocating overseas, cargo or a private charter are often the only options. However, were I ever to travel to Europe with a pet too large to fit under the seat, there’s only one way I’d do it: the comfy kennels Cunard provides on trans-Atlantic crossings of the Queen Mary 2, where a full-time “Kennel Master” looks after up to 24 pets in commodious digs. Included in this very humane way to travel: frequent walks on the ship’s “poop deck.” And yes, there’s a fire hydrant.