Traveling with Pets

Recently we started planning a long trip to visit family and we want to take our Shiba Inu with us. He's too big for cabin travel (27 pounds) and most certainly will not fit under the seat. Folks with a dog under 20 pounds have some GREAT options. Petfinder.com did a fantastic job summarizing these and the top 5 pet friendly airlines for the 2009 year.

I called Continental since fuzzbutt isn't going to fit under any seat, any where. They have a 24 hour desk and the lady I spoke with told me the pets are in cargo, but in an area separate from the luggage. This area has the same temperature and air-pressure as the main passenger cabin. It is kept dark, but no one is down there with the pets during travel. Pet are loaded last onto the plane and taken off first by dedicated staff (not the regular luggage handlers). In talking to friends, I joked that I might almost prefer to travel in the "pet cabin" versus the main cabin (dark and quiet)!

Rates aren't cheap - but we are booking our fuzzbutt and will see how it goes. Stay tuned!

For those who live in some key cities (Chicago, NYC, DC, etc), check out Pet Airways. They ONLY fly pets and seem to have a first class service. Be warned though: they do not land in most of the major airports in those areas. For example, in LA they do not fly in/out of LAX but rather "Hawthorne". No idea. . .