I don't think I really want any animal named "Killer" sitting next to me on a plane.

does this mean cat boxes and little patches of grass in terminals?

I see no way how this can end well. By not angering the customers who WANT to take their stupid toy yapper-type dogs on board, you're just plain going to piss off all the other customers who have to listen to the yapper-type dog for the whole flight. At least you can placate and bribe a child...what are you gong to do with the dog?

Why only five? I'm just wondering how they reached that number. And presumably there will be a section that will ask you whether you want to add a pet, but if you say you do but five people have already booked their pet ahead of you, you're out of luck?

I don't know how long this will last. I like cats fine and all, and find icanhazcheeseburger as amusing as the next person, but I would not want to be stuck next to a litter-box smelling cat that peed itself 3 minutes into a 3 hour flight.

I can haz nose plugs?

Actually, I take my cat on the plane regularly and he is much quieter and better behaved than most of the children. While I have been on many flights with screaming, disruptive babies and children, I have not been on a single one with a disruptive pet.

JetBlue's been doing this for years. It used to cost $50, but now it's $100 :(

@Gaambit: forget the annoying noise, what about allergies. Pet dander and recycled air. I can feel my nose running and my eyes itching just thinking about it.

Believe it or not, your pet is an inconvenience to many of us.

@Gaambit: Sedate them. I don't know of anybody who doesn't give their pet some sort of pet sedative when going on a trip. It's less stressful for all parties. In most cases the animal just sleeps the whole trip.

@Gaambit: If there's a noisy chicken on your flight you can always suffocate it... but... i-it wasn't a chicken... IT WAS A BABY!!!!

If I have to sit on a plane while some cat is doing that meow where they sound like they're dying, I will be totally annoyed. Muuuuuuhhhhhhooooowwllllaaawllllaaaawwwlllllll... ugh.

The biggest problem especially with cats is that they "howl" or "meow" when they are in a car. It will be interesting to see how they deal with the stress of an airplane. How would they relieve their ears like humans can easily do?

So as if air travel hasn't become unpleasant enough, we've now got to add livestock to the equation.

I'm assuming these small pets will still have to stay in a carrier? If so, where will that go? In the seat next to the owner?

@pecan 3.14159265: Some airlines allow even less pets per flight.

Well I don't know how pleasant this would be for the animal, but it's got to be a heck of a lot better than being in the cargo hold-just thinking about putting my cats there makes my skin crawl. At least this way they know their person is nearby.

I love animals but the cabin of an airplane is not somewhere I want them to be on a flight.

@Gaambit: Dogs can be trained to behave. Cats, on the other hand, hate any kind of mechanized travel, and will howl the whole trip. That's gotta get on your nerves. It sure does mine when I draw the short straw and have to take one of my cats to the vet.

@montusama: Cats aren't retarded. They'll relieve their inner ear pressure the same way we do.

@Gaambit: Don't worry, an Air Marshal will be onboard. Pets that get out of line will be tasered. Twice.

@pecan 3.14159265: You're out of luck on that trip and will probably have to choose another time to fly.

@montusama: You can sedate cats.

@stevejust: I feel the same way about children.

I think this policy will result in more humorous Consumerist posts. I'm waiting for the one where the dog drops a deuce on somebody's laptop...or eats their lunch? How about sheds all over the place? Bring it. That said, I wouldn't want to be sitting next to a cat/dog while I am in a suit and on my way to an important meeting. Will SWA provide complimentary lint rollers/febreeze? :)

@redskull: Pets aren't livestock. You can sedate cats and dogs.

I think this is fine, and I'm sure the animals are kept away from other passengers.

If not, then obviously there will be problems.

@redskull: As korybing said, most animals will sleep during the flight, especially if dosed with Benadryl. When we flew my Chihuahua from Phoenix to San Diego to compete for the national title in Petco's Chihuahua race, she never made a peep--and that's without the drugs. In fact, none of the passengers sitting near us even realized I had a dog under the seat.

As for the allergy argument...Sorry, I don't have much sympathy. Other passengers wear perfume and cologne, which often stinks and can cause allergic reactions and asthma attacks. I don't see much of a difference.

A friend of mine from Arizona posted this with glee to her FB page a couple of days ago. I love her little chihuahua, but I don't know what it would be like to be stuck next to her on a plane...

I had another friend move to CA a couple years back and she and her husband had to be on different planes - only one cat on each. She said the worst part was going through security because they make you take the cats out of the carrier and walk through the metal detector holding them. My friend walked through with the cat whose medical condition precluded him being sedated, and she said trying to get him out of the carrier in the security line was similar to trying to get a person on PCP out of the back seat of a police cruiser.

After the cat struggled so much he knocked my friend's glasses off, the TSA staff took pity on her and helped her get the cat back in the carrier quickly.

@mergatroy6: THIS. My boss has a cat, and when I breathe the slightest bit of dander off of his clothes my allergies go crazy. I hope SW doesn't mind getting sued, because that's what I'll do if I end up seated next to the "crazy cat lady".

@pecan 3.14159265: Perhaps it's the same as traveling with a child in your lap? You book your ticket and then call the airline and tell them you want to bring a pet as well and then do their computery magic and now your boarding pass say Pecan Pie +1.

But if your pet chicken can fit under your seat or in the overhead compartment, why is it not part of the carryone / 1-personal item limit?

@azsumrg1rl: I'm pretty sure it's not a good idea to give an animal human drugs and any drugs at all when they don't have any reason to take them.

That small pet thing always pisses me off- I understand why it is there, but if you have a large dog that is well behaved you should be able to buy him a ticket and pay the $75 so he can have some dignity too.

I'm a little surprised at all the pet hate here. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be next to a caterwauling animal anymore than the rest of you, but I know from the surprised looks on other passengers' faces when they realize there's been a cat travelling with them the whole time, that many pets can travel by air silently. (and no, no sedation.)

@redskull: Under the seat like a normal carry-on.

Can I bring Oliver, my pygmy pig, on the plane? Or will people fear he is a harbinger of the coming aporkolypse?

What I think is ridiculous is that you have to spend nearly as much (sometimes more) on fees to travel with your pet as your carryon as you did on your own darned ticket. If I'm paying as much for my dog's ticket as my own, she should have her own seat! (For the record, when we flew with our dog, it was on Petco's dime. It was this very reason that we left our other dog with family for the weekend.)

@JeffM: Not everyone wants to sit next to your @#$@%^$$@#$ dog.

@azsumrg1rl: I'm with you on the allergies. I hate sitting next to people wearing several ounces of Jean Nate

@pecan 3.14159265: Actually, most vets recommend giving Benadryl to dogs with minor allergies and for dogs that have anxiety issues on flights.

Of course, my dogs are trained and socialized well enough that I've never had to worry about the latter. Neither of my Chihuahuas really bark. How's that for breaking stereotype? ;-)

@pecan 3.14159265: Pets can take some human drugs (aspirin is the most common), but it's usually best to talk to your vet first. And giving them a sedative is easier on everyone, including the animal, even if it's not medically necessary. I'd rather travel with a docile animal than one that's scared out of it's mind.

Note: 25$ each way for unaccompanied minor is one of the lowest prices in the industry. Other airlines charge as much as $100 for that. Of course, Southwest didn't use to charge *anything*, which was also one of the lowest prices in the industry.

@Snakeophelia: Yeah, that's the little detail they don't bother to tell you when you're making arrangements for the pets. We moved across the country with two cats a few years ago and had to deal with that as well; in our case, we were able to get them out of their carriers and thankfully, the cats were so freaked out that they just dug into our flesh and clung on for dear life. If it had occurred to me we would have had to do that, I would have put collars on them and brought leashes.

terrible idea.

what about people with allergies ?

i wonder how much it will cost to build toilets that pets have to contort themselves to use.

@shadax: It's not like the animals won't be required to be under their owner's control at all times. Like someone is going to let their animal run around the plane and shit on everything. That'd be an automatic tazering when they land.

@Snakeophelia: The cat reminds me of my rabbit. Whenever I get him ready to go in his carrier, he'll brace his paws against the top of the carrier so I can't put him into it. When we reach our destination, he's gotten so comfortable in the carrier that when I try to take him out of it, he digs his claws into the furry bottom and refuses to come out.

@cleek: As I said earlier, other passengers wear perfume and cologne, which often stinks and can cause allergic reactions and asthma attacks. I don't see much of a difference.

@GreatWhiteNorth: I think it only refers to pigs under their own power.

Bah, they don't fly out of ATL! :(
And the 2 times I've been on the same plane as a pet, they were very quiet. I know what you mean about yowling cats being unbearable, tho.