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BANNED!!! Pets on a Plane.
If you haven't already heard about the recent decision by Air Canada to BAN all pets from the cabin of their aircraft, then I am here to tell you about it! As of September 18/06, Air Canada will no longer allow cute small furries (like ME) to travel in the cabins of their airplanes. This will mean that I will no longer be able to go to visit Grandma J in Thunder Bay or Grandma S in Winnipeg via Air Canada. Flying in the cargo bin would be too traumatic for me and overall just plain cruel.
It is already very difficult for mom & dad to travel; they either have to take me with them or fly a caring relative (who understands all of my special needs) into town to stay with me and give me love (and my medicine). When they went to Vancouver for Uncle C's wedding, they had to fly Grandma J to Toronto to care for me (as a side note: mom & dad flew to Vancouver via Air Canada and Grandma J flew to Toronto via Air Canada). Well, no more. From this day forward, mom & dad will only fly with Westjet and they encourage you to do the same.
This is not a matter of security...it is a matter of a few passengers who complained about their allergies when pets were onboard their flights.
I understand that people do suffer from allergies. I myself have allergies that cause severe debilitation and require me to take medication twice a day; overall, I think that there are possible alternative solutions other than an outright pet ban. For example, Air Canada could post an alert that a pet was aboard the flight and people could then make a choice about whether they would book a flight on that aircraft or not. Maybe Air Canada could have created one flight per day where a pet or two would be allowed on the aircraft.
Please alert all of the small furry critters that you know (and their parents) about Air Canada's lack of critical evaluation and creative problem solving about this issue. Please join me in writing letters to Air Canada showing your disproval and letters of congratulations to Westjet for their continued in-cabin pet flight services. Please join us in flying Westjet exclusively to show your support.
Let me know your thoughts -Love Nikka
Nikka, consider yourself
Nikka, consider yourself sort of lucky. My dog is SO large that Air Canada won't even let him fly as baggage anymore. That's right, he is a whopping 72 pounds. What's that you say? He's just a labrador retreiver cross, no bigger than any average dog? Well too bad for him: Air Canada's new rule is no dogs on the plane as baggage unless the dog and his kennel combined weigh 70 pounds or less.
If they *had* let him fly as baggage, the price *would* have been about $125 one way.
Of course, my dog is welcome to fly Air Canada as cargo. The price? $750 ONE WAY from Victoria to Halifax. Yes, you might accurately note that that is more than TWICE the price that I usually pay for a one way ticket on Air Canada for all 175 pounds of my person (plus 2 suitcases), but apparently for some reason dogs are more expensive per pound to carry than people are. (Bull!)
To recap:
Carrying me and 2 suitcases (about 200 pounds, let's say):
$1.88/pound, one way
Carrying my dog and his kennel (88 pounds):
$8.52/pound, one way
Air Canada has seen the last of my money.
WOW! Thanks for the input
WOW! Thanks for the input Anonymous Pooch. I was not aware that Air Canada's policies also affected my larger furry friends. I get 2-3 hits per day on this site about Air Canada's pet ban. It seems that my little blog has actually helped to increase awareness about these issues and I'm glad you could be a voice for the big dogs.
See Air Canada's response to
See Air Canada's response to my concerns in my blog section.
Too bad about Air Canada not
Too bad about Air Canada not taking little critters on the plane. Those cargo holds are big and cold. Little scrawny things don't do well there.
It would be good customer service if Air Canada offers a few flights that are critter-friendly and advertise as such, so people with allergies have a choice to sneeze or not to sneeze by choosing a different flight. I say, if they're going to ban anything, ban lions. They easily can take up two seats (or more) and make little scrawny dogs even more nervous, especially if they look like fat sausages.
Just some good ideas, that's all,
Grandma Pooch J