When we moved to California in May 2000, our 2 cats flew with us in their soft side carriers which we put under the seats in front of us. It was HORRIFIC going through security though, I had my infant daughter in her carseat, and the two cats in their carriers. My husband was pegged to go around the corner for further checking (he’s from India but could pass for middle eastern) so that left me being told to take the baby out of the carseat and the two cats out of the carriers and send everything else through the x-ray machine. I nearly had a nervous breakdown and burst into tears not knowing what to do while a boatload of people were starting to back up behind me. THANK GOD for the kindness of strangers (angels I honestly believe!) who rushed to help me—one man took one cat, another took the other, and another broke down our stroller and sent it and our carry ons and the cat carriers and the carseat through the x-ray machine—my husband came around the corner about the time everything came out the other side of the x-ray belt.
The flight itself was uneventful, except Pebbles cried for most of it, but we were right next to the wings and the noise from that overpowered her. Poor little thing did pee all over herself though. Moose did great.
When we moved back to Texas in 2003, the airlines weren’t
allowing pets in the cabin any more, and I didn’t want to go through the hell of post-9/11 security with the cats, so we decided to drive back with the cats in the car. Had them in their carriers for the first few hours then decided to test them outside, put a disposable litter box in the back of the SUV, and fed and watered them whenever we made pit stops. They did GREAT! :-) Moose loved to stand up and look out the windows which caused many a double take, that’s for sure. Pebbles stretched out across the dashboard basking in the sunlight. Wouldn’t mind going on a family vacation like that in the future, LOL. :-)
Nice story.
I’ve always wondered about flying overseas with pets....like the people who move overseas to teach English in other countries. Surely some of them have pets. I guess they don’t have a problem taking them overseas, no restrictions, etc.
So True! Years ago, when I brought my two cats back from Germany, the cool-headed, big guy went in pet-cargo but girl cat, who was shy and small went with me in the cabin. Stupid Pan-Am put me against the bulkhead! I couldn't hold the pet carrier in my lap during take off and had no where to put her!
I started crying and the stewardess was no help ("we can put her in cargo") but the other passengers took my side and helped. Someone way back in the middle section did not have anything under the seat in front of him and offered to store my kitty during take-off and landing. The plane was jam-packed and I handed her off to a stranger and then watched as the carrier was gently passed back over everyone's head to the kind person in the back.
Once we were in the air, she was passed back to the front to me and then when it was time to land, we repeated the process. In the crowd, I never saw the person who offered his storage space but I hope God blessed him richly!