airline news

An article in the New York Times this week features a feathery situation in the airport security line.  Joe Sharkey, a Times reporter, was faced with flying his two parrots, Rosie (an African Grey) and Petey (a blue-and-gold Macaw) from Newark to Phoenix.  A difficult task under the best of circumstances, Sharkey found himself receiving a long, hard look from the TSA before boarding with Rosie, who would be flying with him in-cabin.  Then the time came for Rosie to be inspected by the TSA, which required looking under her wings for explosives:

My wife and I had never before flown with our two parrots, but this time they had to come along on our nonstop flight to Phoenix. Rosie could fly in the cabin.  ... We were very anxious at the checkpoint. My wife solved the problem, though. One of Rosie’s tricks is to spread her wings and lower her beak if you ask her to imitate an eagle.

“Rosie, do an eagle,” my wife said. Inside her cage with the screener’s face framed in the open door, the bird promptly spread her wings wide. The screener had his look under the wings and lowered his wand. Merriment ensued all around — but it had to look pretty silly.

Flying with pets has always been somewhat difficult but tighter security restrictions are making pet travel, particularly in-cabin, even more stressful.

Almost a year ago, we reported a confusing pet travel directive issued by the TSA that made it impossible for pets originating from outside the US to be shipped unaccompanied or as manifest cargo without going through a "Regulated Agent" or "IATA-Approved" shipper.  Breeders who were used to sending their pets to Canada and then arranging to ship them back through other breeders suddenly found themselves in a tight spot, with their show dogs and breeding stock stuck across the border.  It also meant that someone living in a more remote city/country where there might not be a freight forwarder or registered agent who is capable and/or willing to book pets as cargo would have to either travel with their pet back to the US or leave the pet behind. 

We just recieved this report from Lufthansa regarding heavy snowfall in Germany:

Repeated heavy snowfall in Germany has caused severe delays of flights as well as numerous flight cancellations. This has the following impact on live animal handling:

Frankfurt:

Delays in Import and Export: For today, 21-Dec-2009, a complete embargo had to be imposed for freight transportation on flights to destinations in Germany and Europe. Exceptions apply for MAIL/VIC, AVI, DIP, HUM and LHO - provided that the booked flights can operate. Loading of intercontinental flights continues. However, delays have to be expected for both, Passenger and Freighter flights. We expect further irregularities for tomorrow and hope to be back to normal operations latest on Wednesday provided that the weather situation stabilizes.

Munich:

Except for a few flight delays, operations run normally.

Dusseldorf:

Delays in exports on intercontinental flights.

If you have questions regarding the situation at other stations, we will gladly provide the information on request.

All your shipments will be rebooked to the next possible connection. We sincerely regret the delays. Please rest assured that we do everything we can to transport your shipments to their final destinations as quickly as possible.

For further information, please visit www.lufthansa-cargo.com or contact our Customer Support Center at 1-800-LH-CARGO (1-800-542-2746).  Please do not reply to this e-mail as we are not able to respond to messages sent to this address.

Yesterday we wrote about the potential British Airways strike for next week.  The strike has now been prevented by an injunction in the courts, so if you're traveling on British Airways, you should be fine.  We'll keep you posted!

More on the strike from ABC News here.

If you are traveling with pets to London during the holidays, you'll want to avoid using British Airways.  A strike of their cabin crew from this upcoming Tuesday through January 2nd means cancellations for the entire fleet.  The UK's Telegraph has more:

The vast majority of BA flights are likely simply to be cancelled - with passengers facing a fight to make alternative travel arrangements in time. British Airways said it would offer customers a full refund, or the opportunity to travel at a later date. It will not, however, offer to pay for passengers to travel on another carrier. And compensation will only be paid after it has been confirmed the flight has been cancelled - something that could be decided at a few days' notice.

So what to do if you are needing to fly your pet to the UK sometime in the next two weeks?  Continental is a great pet-friendly alternative offering pet flights to and from London but you'll want to book early -- space for pets is filling up fast because of BA's limitations.  Or feel free to give us a call (877-PET-MOVE) and we'll make sure your pets arrive safely in the UK in time for the holidays!

We've been arranging door-to-door services for pets for years and we've always joked that we should provide the same concierge services for people's bags!  Now United Airlines is jumping on board by offering door-to-door baggage services[img_assist|nid=5163|title=|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=119|height=119]. Their new service aims to take the "lug" out of "luggage."

Lufthansa and Continental Airlines, two of our favorite pet-friendly airlines, have teamed up to offer a free trip to tour Continental and Lufthansa headquarters as well as the Airbus factory. Pretty cool!

The secret's out:  airlines around the world are catering to pet lovers now more than ever.  And why shouldn't they?  US pet owners are estimated to be spending $45B dollars in 2009, a number which is up from 2008.  For airlines, which are cutting corners and looking for revenue wherever they can find it, accomodating pet owners who want to fly with Fido is an important step in adjusting to the demands of today's consumer.

Name: Steve
Moving From: Arizona
Moving To: North Carolina
Question:  We are flying to NC with our pet on board. Delta says it does not require a health certificate but the states each have their own rules. Is a certificate required in Georgia (we fly through there), Arizona (we may return there), and NC?

Pet owners traveling to or from Edmonton, Canada (Airport code:  YEG) will soon have a new "pet friendly" option for their trip. Continental has announced new non-stop service from Houston, TX to Edmonton International Airport beginning Nov. 1, 2009, subject to government approval.  Pets flying under the Continental Pet Safe program 

Here's one way to fly with your too-big pet in cabin: rent out the entire business class section of a plane.

That's what one woman did in order to bring her Boxer in cabin on a four-hour flight from Paris to Tel Aviv.  The flight costs her $32,000 but it sounds as though the woman felt that not having to be separated from her dog was worth it.