Has anyone ever taken a cat on an airplane?

[Georgeisbad]

I will need to bring home 2 cats and I am having a hard time finding an airline approved pet carrier. Southwest is saying it can only be 9.5" high. Frontier said only 8" high- seriously?? the average cat is over 9" tall. They are not pet friendly.

The last time I flew the woman across the aisle had a small dog in a carrier and that carrier seemed larger than 8" high.
Just looking to see if anyone has flown recently with a cat and how large was your carrier and what airline did you fly?

[Janey]

Hi and welcome. I haven’t actually done this myself, hopefully someone has who can help. Otherwise, if you check out Cat Chat’s “Rehoming” advice page and scroll down to “Emigrating Abroad”, there’s lots of information about travelling, travelling abroad with your pet etc and who you can ring for info here:

https://www.catchat.org/index.php/rehome-pet-cat

"If you are emigrating abroad, you may still be able to take your cat with you. If the cat is elderly or has a medical condition, you may consider the journey might be too much for them, and decide rehoming would be the best option (in which case, see the 'Rehoming your Cat' section further down this page). But, if they are in good health and you would like to take them with you, you can get advice and information from DEFRA's Pet Travel Scheme (PETS) helpline - Email: [email protected] or call: 0870 241 1710 or, visit their website: http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pets/pets/travel

For transporting cats by air: PBS Pet Travel: http://www.pbspettravel.co.uk, Animal Airways: http://www.animalairways.com, Jet Set Pets: http://www.jetsetpets.co.uk, PetAir UK: http://www.petairuk.com or AirPets: http://www.airpets.com

Further useful information about pets and travel here: http://www.petsandtravel.co.uk”

Best of luck.

[fjm]

I suspect from what you say you are based in the USA, where flying with pets is far more common than in the UK. If so, you may need to post on a US based pet site to get the sort of information you are after.

[MarySkater]

Maybe it depends on the airline - the sizes you are quoting seem ridiculous. There used to be a factual TV series filmed at the Animal Reception Centre at Heathrow airport, London. They had cats and dogs coming through in various-sized airline-approved carriers. In fact, some of the problems arose if an animal was travelling onwards, and its carrier was considered too small. (If I remember correctly, the animal must be able to stand upright and turn around.) The authorities would make the owner buy a more suitable carrier before allowing the pet to do the next leg of its journey. If you are in the USA, can you try the ASPCA website for information? Or the equivalent organisation if you are in a different country?

[Kay]

I think Mary that was for animals travelling in the cargo area, and suspect the OP is wanting to take her cat into the passenger seating area

but if she is in the US I doubt any advice we could give would be necessarily relevant

[MarySkater]

Thanks, Kay, it didn't occur to me that anyone would try to take an animal in the passenger area. They'll allow it for guide dogs, but I shouldn't think they would for anything else.