# Is there any airline that will let me fly with a 30lb dog in the main cabin?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 30, 2016, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446 "2016-11-30T05:41:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 7
### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2016, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/121 "2016-12-01T21:42:59Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#):
>
> My dad told me just because you became famous for skyhooks and changing your name doesn’t make you a pilot.
I actually just realized that you probably have become sick of that joke, and its million brethren, for the last few decades.
But there’s always a new audience!
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/122 "2016-12-01T23:06:26Z")
I’ve never heard of it and I was utterly baffled by it. You have some amazing cultural and literary reservoirs I’ve never imagined, much less explored.
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### Author:  [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2016, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/123 "2016-12-01T23:36:42Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> In the absences of any regulations airline policy would be simple. As it was since I was a kid: Except for obviously blind people with seeing eye dogs any and all animals go in the cargo compartment, period, amen. And are charged accordingly.
>
> It was the Feds who foreclosed that approach and demanded the airlines find a way to accommodate certain animals without doing anything about ameliorating the incentive to cheat or the consequences of that cheating for the other passengers. Leaving the airlines holding the PR bag.
>
> Had there not been a simultaneous huge upswing in people dragging their pets everywhere with them the current regulations would be non-events. It’s the confluence of those two trends which is having unforeseen consequences for everyone.
>
> You’re right: current reality is the rank and file workers don’t aggressively enforce corporate policy. Whether that’s the wisdom of the front line workers sensibly waiving draconian crap from a blinkered HQ or that’s rampant sloppiness on the part of lazy workers not wanting to deal with angry scenes is a matter of some debate. It’s probably both at one time or another.
>
> Agree that if the volume of FSA gets larger, we will see more instances of pet problems on airplanes and eventually that’ll trigger a reaction from the rest of the customers and eventually Congress and/or the DOT. The first time somebody successfully sues the airline for a dog bite from an FSA we’ll see at least that airline go hard over.
> The FSA “issue” doesn’t really bother me as a worker. Not my problem. Or at least almost never my problem. When on rare occasion it becomes one I handle it. I hear about far more stories than I witness.
>
> As a general customer in the retail world I’m not a big fan of dogs in stores and restaurants. Not my style.
>
> I continue posting to the thread not because I’m ape over this “issue.” It’s a lazy afternoon at home and I’m the only person here with the occupational POV on the issue. We’ve had flight attendants on SDMB before although they moved on a couple years ago. I’d be curious to see their perspectives in public vice what I hear backstage. As well as that of gate agents.
My son was bitten by a small dog in the gate area of Austin airport when he was four years old. The dog had been let out of its container and the owner was waiting to board her flight.
Southwest Airlines was actually very helpful: they called the EMTs, and when they decided to take my son to the hospital the airline comped a hotel room for us and rebooked our flights. Later, after some prodding, they even reimbursed our medical expenses.
The police was involved too, they wanted to talk to the dog’s owner. It was a nightmare actually, and makes me wary of dogs in airports.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/124 "2016-12-02T02:36:32Z")
Some dogs are cool with it all. But many people have no clue how overwhelming an experience it is for a poor uncomprehending pooch. Who then proceeds to do something stupid and “out of character”. No, you dumbass human, it was totally in-character. For an overwhelmed simple-minded animal. You can call it your baby all you want and coo English into its ears.; that doesn’t make it human or mean it understands a word you’re saying.
Worse yet of course are the people who knowingly bring problem dogs.
I’m glad it worked out OK for you. Although it was sure a mess at the time and destroyed whatever the purpose was for your trip.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/125 "2016-12-02T02:52:41Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> I’ve never heard of it and I was utterly baffled by it. You have some amazing cultural and literary reservoirs I’ve never imagined, much less explored.
What, that I’ve seen _Airplane_? I thought it was required on membership here.
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/126 "2016-12-02T03:00:40Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> Consider for a minute if it became commonplace for schmucks to print their own fake handicapped parking hang tag and put it on their car so they could use the reserved spaces close by the entrance that are always vacant.
> Once most of those spaces are occupied most of the time by cheaters, the public will say “Enough; cancel the handicapped spaces completely.”
I recall seeing an article from 10 or so years back that described a multi-day project to check out every case of a vehicle parking in a handicapped space in a large parking lot. The cases that were fully valid (authorized person using a current tag) were around 18% of the total.
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/127 "2016-12-02T05:14:27Z")
I’m amazed that **Colibri** has allowed us to carry this oversized, flea-ridden thread in the front row seats of GQ, stinking the place up with vehement opinions. OP sneaked it on board GQ as a factual question, but nobody checked its documentation.
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/128 "2016-12-02T05:20:44Z")
> [@Xema](#):
>
> I recall seeing an article from 10 or so years back that described a multi-day project to check out every case of a vehicle parking in a handicapped space in a large parking lot. The cases that were fully valid (authorized person using a current tag) were around 18% of the total.
Handicapped parking is a distinctly different issue, because they exist in limited supply, and a person improperly taking one is actually depriving a qualified person of an access he is entitled to.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/129 "2016-12-02T05:29:44Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#):
>
> What, that I’ve seen _Airplane_? I thought it was required on membership here.
It is, but that joke you quoted wasn’t from _Airplane!_
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/130 "2016-12-02T05:32:47Z")
> [@jtur88](#):
>
> Handicapped parking is a distinctly different issue, because they exist in limited supply, and a person improperly taking one is actually depriving a qualified person of an access he is entitled to.
But there are clear and relevant parallels.
(1) It speaks to the general level of public selfishness and willingness to dishonestly abuse a system designed to benefit those in genuine need.
(2) There now are a large number of disabled spots in all car parks, obviously in the most convenient positions. Sometimes disabled spots are empty when an entire car park is full. Most decent people are quite happy to undergo the minor inconvenience to make life easier for those in genuine need. But if it turns out that 80% of the disabled parkers are cheats, it leaves a sour taste for everyone, undermines the system, and may reduce public sympathy for future measures to ease life for the genuinely disabled.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/131 "2016-12-02T05:36:29Z")
> [@cochrane](#):
>
> It is, but that joke you quoted wasn’t from _Airplane!_
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2igwohrh_s)
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### Author:  [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/132 "2016-12-02T05:47:03Z")
And about that open plane window:
[ ](https://i.pinimg.com/236x/9d/46/af/9d46afff19542bbe005dd1da7457ca36.jpg)
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/133 "2016-12-02T15:49:13Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#):
>
> [https://youtu.be/k2igwohrh\_s](https://youtu.be/k2igwohrh_s)
Good clip. Thank you.
I partly recall that scene from seeing the original movie in the cinema ages ago.
In the industry, the bit with gladiator movies, Turkish prisons, and grown men naked is a standard joke we tell each other just after a little kid has left the cockpit\* and he and Mom are safely out of earshot. We hope.
We also do the “Roger Roger, clearance Clarence, vector Victor” bit a lot.
I forgot about the Kareem Abdul bit completely. “Tell your old man to try dragging Walton and Neer up and down the court for 48 minutes.” is awesome. But I forgot it completely. Nor did I make the connection between your joke and that snippet.
Color me excessively literal.
===========
- While we’re parked at the gate of course.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/134 "2016-12-02T16:16:58Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> I forgot about the Kareem Abdul bit completely. “Tell your old man to try dragging Walton and Neer up and down the court for 48 minutes.” is awesome. But I forgot it completely. Nor did I make the connection between your joke and that snippet.
“Lanier”, actually. [Bob Lanier](http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/laniebo01.html), one of the NBA’s leading centers during Abdul-Jabbar’s heyday in the 1970s, and, thus, a perennial opponent of his.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/135 "2016-12-02T16:57:18Z")
FTR, my sneak-hint about skyhooks (a perennial GQ space topic as well) ranks among the very few bits of sports stuff I impress myself with; just ask me about the '69 Mets or Willis Reed or Clyde. Or Dave “The Butcher,” as my mother once claimed his sobriquet was, as a reason for not sharing my passion. To be a 10 year old in NYC when the Mets won (I grew up a few miles from Shea), Joe Namath won, and the Knicks won…
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/136 "2016-12-02T17:04:46Z")
I’ve shared [this](https://youtu.be/Rv1tjRgEN-o) by PM already, but it deserves a wider audience, and may serve as a sobering reminder of what air travel is about when there are too many f_ng dogs on a f_ng plane.
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### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/137 "2016-12-02T17:23:16Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> Consider for a minute if it became commonplace for schmucks to print their own fake handicapped parking hang tag and put it on their car so they could use the reserved spaces close by the entrance that are always vacant.
Ugh. About 20 years ago, I worked for a company that maintained an official handicapped parking hang tag for senior executives to use (mostly to snag parking close to the terminal at airports). I saw firsthand an HR person employ it thus (dropping off a car for an executive to use later – I’d been tasked to come along in another vehicle and drive her back to the office).
The enormous entitlement of these self-important schmucks was galling. I frankly find it _worse_ that a corporation felt so entitled than if it had just been a lazy human being.
I would be unsurprised if this turned out to be common practice among major corporations.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/138 "2016-12-02T17:36:30Z")
> [@Sailboat](#):
>
> I would be unsurprised if this turned out to be common practice among major corporations.
It would never be tolerated at any of the major companies I’ve worked for. In fact it would probably be grounds for dismissal. I work in the tech industry, I could imagine it being different in other industries.
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/139 "2016-12-02T22:19:13Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> It would never be tolerated at any of the major companies I’ve worked for. In fact it would probably be grounds for dismissal. I work in the tech industry, I could imagine it being different in other industries.
Did you miss the bit that the abuse was being on behalf of the convenience of “senior executives”? Because if a senior executive does it, by definition it’s cool, laws and ethics be damned.
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2016, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-airline-that-will-let-me-fly-with-a-30lb-dog-in-the-main-cabin/773446/140 "2016-12-03T04:05:43Z")
> [@Riemann](#):
>
> …if it turns out that 80% of the disabled parkers are cheats, it leaves a sour taste for everyone, undermines the system …
It also risks giving the message “Hey, everyone’s doing it - you’re just a sap if you don’t.”
The “12 items or less” supermarket checkout has reached that state. The store personnel don’t enforce the rule, everyone knows this, and the level of valid compliance is really low.
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