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Traveling with Your Pet
- 1. Holiday Travels with Your Pet
- 2. Petfinder's 2011 Most Pet-Friendly North American Airlines
- 3. Petfinder's 2010 Most Pet-Friendly U.S. Airlines
- 4. Car Travel with Your Pet
- 5. Air Travel Tips
- 6. On Board with Your Pet
- 7. Airline Travel with Your Bird
- 8. Beach Tips From the ASPCA
- 9. Choosing a Pet Sitter
Petfinder's 2010 Most Pet-Friendly U.S. Airlines
Flying the friendly skies can sometimes be challenging – especially for travelers with furry friends.
To help pet parents with their summer travels, Petfinder is releasing its annual review of pet-friendly airlines in the United States – outlining the best choices for all animal companions.
2010 Most Pet-Friendly U.S. Airlines
Last year, Petfinder was thrilled to see the first-ever pet airline take off, Pet Airways.
Dedicated to four-legged friends, Pet Airways dubs its clientele “pawsengers” and gives pets the opportunity to experience a truly first-class travel experience. As an obvious winner in Petfinder’s pet-friendly airline list, Pet Airways touts the following top-notch policies:
- Pawsengers fly in the climate-controlled pressurized main cabin and are checked on by pet attendants every 15 minutes during flight.
- Pets fly securely and comfortably in individual pet carriers with special fasteners, preventing any accidental movement.
- If a pawsenger falls extremely ill, the plane will be diverted to the nearest airport so that the pet can be treated.
Because Pet Airways only flies out of a few major airports (see full list here), Petfinder researched the top commercial U.S. airlines and chose front-runners in the following categories:
- Best Pet-Friendly Amenities: JetBlue. JetBlue’s superior JetPaws program was specifically designed to help pet parents and their pets enjoy a smoother travel experience. The customer-focused airline provides pet-toting travelers with a pet carrier baggage tag, a travel petiquette guide, 300 TrueBlue points each way and a welcome e-mail.
- Best for Budget-Conscious Consumers: AirTran. AirTran tops this category, allowing small domesticated dogs, cats and birds to travel for $69 each way in-cabin.
- Best for Transporting Pet Variety: Frontier Airlines. Of the airlines researched in the 2010 Petfinder.com analysis, Frontier allows the most diverse variety of pets in-cabin, including domesticated dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and small household birds.
- Best for Animal Health and Safety: JetBlue. If a pet becomes ill mid-flight, JetBlue will ring the cabin crew to see if there is a veterinarian on board who can treat the pet immediately – showing their dedication to the health of our furry friends.
Jet Blue’s refusal to permit pet transport in cargo is another important animal safety measure.
Evidence supports this policy; from May 2009 to May 2010, the only airlines with zero reported pet deaths were those that required pets to travel in-cabin.
“Pets are becoming more of an integral part of our families so it’s only natural that airlines are taking pet travel more seriously,” said Betsy Banks Saul, Petfinder's co-founder. “This list will raise awareness on criteria that pet parents should take into consideration, such as the risks of traveling in cargo, so they can make well-informed decisions.”
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Your Pet and You: Traveling with Your Pet:
Car Travel with Your Pet
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