We're flying with our coton de tulear next month, Geneva to JFK, with him in cabin. Anyone had any experience on this route? Are the flight attendants strict about the dog not coming out of his carrier for the entire flight? Any tips for intercontinental flight?

Thanks!

Sorry, I can't help with this but you have made me curious...

Are you asking about the strictness of the attendants because you'd actually consider letting your dog out of the carrier? What would you do if your pooch decides to squat on the carpet or lift a leg on a chair?

Hah, no, wasn't planning to let him wander about the cabin. He's very used to train travel, for example, and doesn't wander around, but usually he's happiest sleeping on my lap, not in his carrier. Just don't want to cause an incident.

(Although I have heard of people going into the bathroom with their dog and lining the floor with wee-wee pads...)

While my dogs have only traveled in cargo, I have been on flights where there were dogs in the cabin.

One time a passenger decided that Fluffy would prefer to sit on her lap - and the cabin crew's response was immediate and unwielding: the dog had to go back in the crate, punkt. This was explained as a safety issue, no getting around it.

The cabin crew were very polite, but clearly were not going to allow the lady to bend the rules - much to the approval of the other passengers.

Remember that not everyone is a dog lover, some people are allergic - it is grossly unfair, not to mention dangerous, to try to circumvent the rules.

If you are worried about your dog being kept confined in the small crate for a long flight, perhaps cargo - where your dog can go in a larger crate, where he can more easily drink, get up and turn around a bit - might be a better option.

Or, a better option is to do a bit of pre-flight training with your dog so that he learns to settle in the crate - once the flight takes off, he will probably then just go to sleep.

Hope the trip goes smoothly for all.

This is what I did with my dog when we were preparing to come here. We got her travel crate months in advance and started off with keeping a favorite blanket in there for her to go in and lay when she wanted for a couple weeks. She'd been crate trained already anyhow but the mostly-solid travel crate was new for her.

Next step was to take some increasingly long road trips, keeping her confined in the crate. (I'd been a bad dog-mommy and let her loose in the car with me on road trips previously, but as at the time there were problems with people being attacked at rest stops in the US, I felt safer if any would-be assailants could see that not only was there a dog, but a big one who was loose. ) She did quite well with that arrangement.

Good luck in your travels to both of you.

I must say I am very surprised that this is allowed at all. It must be about 8 hour flight- so how is your dog going to do his 'business'? I just love dogs- but just can't see how this is practicable as regard to inconvenience to other passengers, with some perhaps allergic to dogs?

Actually, that's why there are so many regulations about what sort of travel device can be used for pets on planes. They can't be "too" open, they have to be of certain size relative to the pet, depending whether they'll be carry-on vs cargo the crate itself has to be of certain strength, etc etc.

They make travel pads to line the bottom, these days they have the same material as a baby's diaper lining, they are quite absorbent. As it generally isn't an every day thing for pets to travel long distances, it isn't really such a huge thing. Sure some get stressed and yep, they need exercise but for something of a "one off" type thing, it's not so terrible.

As far as potential for allergies goes, the airlines themselves help manage that to some extent, as there are only a given number of in-cabin pets allowed per flight. I do not know the particulars but I remember noticing that pet travel bags which are made with intent to be in-cabin carriers usually have a fairly closed mesh (obviously not solid) in the "open" / view spots rather than the grates in more solid cargo crates. I imagine this helps somewhat with the potential for spreading dander.