Traveling with a pet? Do your doggone homework
For Anna Mallea, that headline may be an unfortunate play on words. After a flight from Texas aboard Continental Airlines, her family dog, Sassy, is missing.
Sassy arrived in San Francisco during an unusual heat wave, with temperatures well into the 90s. A well-intentioned, but perhaps not forward-thinking, Continental employee felt the dog didn’t look she was feeling well, and decided to open the cage to give Sassy some water.
Unfortunately, Sassy — perhaps unnerved by her long journey in the cargo hold — took that opportunity to run, apparently crossing a busy freeway and disappearing into some hills adjacent to the airport, according to reports. I say “not forward-thinking” because maybe that drink of water should have been given in an enclosed space to prevent Sassy from bolting.
Despite efforts of Ms. Mallea, her daughter, animal control and airline personnel, the search for Sassy has been fruitless.
The International Air Transport Association notes that “taking an animal out of its natural environment or surroundings is by definition stressful.” It goes on to say that “this responsibility is often overlooked,” even by responsible pet owners. IATA offers further guidance here.
What can passengers do to protect the family pet?
Well, the obvious answer would be to drive. The air travel system is complicated. Cargo holds are dark. They are loud. They are subject to extreme temperatures, hot and cold. The animals are loaded and unloaded the same way as suitcases, and try as the airlines might, when it comes right down to it, the animals are cargo. Plain and simple. Then there’s the fact that the animals are handled by fallible human beings.
That advice is all well and good, but is obviously too late for Ms. Mallea. And Sassy. I’m sure she felt that she wasn’t putting Sassy in any danger by shipping her this way, but that’s probably not doing anything to assuage Ms. Mallea’s grief at this point.
Southwest Airlines doesn’t accept pets as cargo. US Airways doesn’t accept any animals in the cargo hold. Period. Perhaps these airlines see the risk involved, or more likely, perhaps they do so to keep their costs down.
To help advise customers about this subject, The United States Department of Transportation publishes as part of its monthly Air Travel Consumer Report an account of injuries or deaths of animals shipped by airlines.
But just viewing the numbers on the report can be deceptive.
Take June’s report, for example. At first glance, it would appear American Airlines did worse than Delta for the month. But if you delve a little deeper, you can see that both animal deaths on American were cases where aged animals did not live through the journey. In those cases, I’d personally fault the owners for shipping animals in poor health, not the airline.
Maybe the owner’s names should be listed? The government doesn’t do well with subjectivity, but it seems to me like these cases shouldn’t be giving American Airlines a black eye on the Transportation Department’s report.
But in Delta’s case, a parrot arrived in Orange County, Calif. frozen to death. When loading the aircraft in the connecting city, dry ice in another cargo shipment had been loaded too closely to the bird in the cargo bin. The resulting cold temperatures caused an apparently otherwise healthy animal to freeze — and die — while in transit.
What’s more, the Transportation Department’s report on animals doesn’t give us a frame of reference like it does in other categories. Complaints, for instance, are measured against passenger enplanements. Animal injuries and deaths are not measured against the number of shipments, so there really is nothing for us to look at but a single number.
I’ve seen and heard of too many mishaps with animals being shipped as cargo during my airline career. When my family dog, Murray, goes anywhere with us, he gets to ride in the back seat of my station wagon, like he should. He doesn’t even go in the “way-back” with the luggage. He gets to hang his head out the window, bark at passersby, slobber, and occasionally lick me on the back of my head.
Update: Attempts to find out the status of Sassy’s whereabouts from Continental have been fruitless.
Rochelle, a customer relations representative, knew nothing and pulled the oldest call center employee trick in the book: placing the customer on indefinite hold instead of transferring the call immediately as promised. This deceptive trick allows the agent to take a break while appearing busy to the supervisor monitoring call productivity.
After holding for quite a while, I hung up and called the PetSafe division of Continental’s cargo department, which answered on the first ring, underscoring my point about the unauthorized break and disservice to the customer.
Surprisingly, even the PetSafe department knew nothing of this incident and an employee named Elvira brusquely advised me to “call corporate.” A call to Continental’s public relations office was not returned.
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8 Responses to “Traveling with a pet? Do your doggone homework”
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Not very useful insight for those of us who live in AK or HI! Your “Lower 48, urbanite” bias is showing. The USA is a huge country and people move vast distances. I work for the federal government and have an ex-military husband. Overseas moves are quite common for folks like us and we need to bring our pets along.
Please write a better column, e.g. one that focuses more on weather conditions, sick pets, short-nosed dogs, and bad communications with the cockpit. I fly AS almost exclusively and they do a great job letting passengers know that their pets are aboard, in the correct hold, with the heat on. Hubby is an air transport pilot with another airline. Animals can be carried properly — don’t use incompetent behavior by a single low level employee as a reason to discourage all air transport of pets.
Ouch—AKFlier–this is a blog not a column, so you have to cut him some slack!
Agreed John F! I think David’s post is very well written and I agree with the sentiment. Just do your homework!
This was an eye opening post. We travel around the world for our company Jet Set Life and from time to time we’ve considered bringing our new pet. This will definitely help us make an informed decision. Thanx
For those who can’t leave your pets behind here are some travel tips so visit your local pet supplies store:
• Make sure your pet’s shots are up-to-date.
• Do not administer any medication or treatments without first discussing them with your veterinarian.
• Obtain documentation from your vet to show that your pet’s vaccinations are current, and that your companion is healthy.
• If you are traveling to another country, check with that nation’s embassy.
• Make sure your pets are wearing collars with current Identification tags.
• Pack any medications your pet may be taking.
• If you are traveling by automobile, think about the animal’s safety as well as your own.
• Do not leave an animal unattended in a vehicle.
• Check with the Airline Carrier for specific requirements when traveling with your pet.
• Try to book a direct flight to your destination to eliminate additional stress by airline transfers.
• Call your hotel/motel ahead to confirm that pets are accepted and if any additional fees are required.
Good Dog Panda!!
Hawaii and Alaksa are afterthoughts anyhow! :)
Maybe David should also comment on how one should travel with their pet safely in a car, as the chances of being in a car accident with your pet are greater than something happening to your pet in flight. Letting Fido stick his head out the window while you’re driving is not a smart idea, as s/he can get debris in his eyes, or even escape from a moving vehicle. Also, if the vehicle is in an accident, the pet can escape (much as the pup in the airport), or be ejected from the vehicle. People need to think of the safety of their pet in all aspects of travel.
I’ve flown with my dog a couple of times.. Continental has a nice pet program (the cargo area is temperature controlled). You just need to put instructions on the kennel and make sure they are large and dummy proof.
I wouldn’t tranquilize an animal flying, as this messes up their natural ability to adjust to the elevation differences. Old animals, or timid animals should not fly as cargo. Short nosed dogs (or other nasal problemed dogs) should not fly, period.
If you have to fly with a pet, I recommend going through an experienced pet travel agent. They’ve done it a lot, and they know how/what to do.
You could not even give me the winning lottery ticket to fly any of my animals on a plane.
Heard too many horror stories from a friend of mine who worked as a baggage handler at a major airport and how the pets were treated.
Tell me, would you want someone who is not a pet lover handling your pets before a flight? No thanks!