[butterfi]

Clearly AA prioritizes the wrong things. I'm betting the guy broke some policy, but is it really a firing offense? Are they going to sack the middle-management bonehead who blew this up into a much more embarrassing spectacle?

Like I really needed another reason not to fly AA. These days, its Jet Blue or Virgin America if at all possible.

[Vivtek]

On the other hand, when I flew from Puerto Rico to Florida with my dog this spring, JetBlue not only didn't have facilities to fly my dog, they had no answer to my dilemma at all. And instead of refunding my ticket, they gave me credit, with JetBlue, who ... can't fly my dog. And then they said, "Well, have a nice day." No help, no money back, no nothing. It took them fifteen minutes even to tell me that they couldn't do it because they didn't have cargo facilities that could handle dogs.

I have a year to fly anywhere I need to, with JetBlue, except I needed to fly from Puerto Rico to Florida.

American flew me, and my dog, to Florida, no difficulties at all, on the spot. So maybe their corporate culture is screwed up, like many companies in this world, and maybe they're so big that there are a whole lot of people to screw up their Web design.

But when it comes to actually flying somebody somewhere with a dog, well, they appear to be an airline. Between AA, whose staff knew what they were doing, and JetBlue, whose staff came off as clueless, I'll continue to take AA.

[ErrantX]

I don't wish to be rude but did it not occur to you to check they could handle your dog when booking?

[nrr]

I do this when I fly musical instruments like my bass guitar (for which I haven't managed to purchase a hard-shell flight case, bah) to evade having a damaged instrument at my destination. Some airlines will let you store these things in the bulkhead compartment forward, and others require you to purchase an additional ticket.

So, yes, checking the airline's policies would've been top priority. With JetBlue, this is amazingly easy: http://help.jetblue.com/SRVS/CGI-BIN/webisapi.dll?New,Kb=ask...

[Vivtek]

Actually, no. I'd never flown with a dog before and was a rank amateur; it didn't occur to me that dog crates might be a different category of luggage/cargo. I freely admit that this was my fault (in a way), and I'm not saying they should have flown the dog anyway - but the way they handled it was not good. Instead of just saying, "I'm sorry, we can't fly dogs because they're a different category of luggage we're not permitted to handle here" and refunding my money, they were very strange about it and didn't refund my money.

[ErrantX]

yeh I agree that how they treated you was bad, it's odd that they refused a refund :(

[enneff]

Good idea. Let's consign everyone who flies with a dog to a particular airline, so the rest of us can avoid them.

[Vivtek]

I'm sure my dog down in the baggage area was a terrible trial for everyone exposed.

[goatforce5]

When I flew from the UK to the US with my cat (in cargo) I think the other passengers got annoyed with the flight attendant coming up frequently to reassure me that my cat was (probably) fine. It was a really bumpy flight - worst i've been on. Full marks to Virgin Atlantic for the pet cargo service. They really go above and beyond for long haul pet travel: http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/passengerinformation/tr...

And when said kitty needed to come from Boston to Toronto, it was in AA in the cabin. They were nice but largely indifferent about it. I'm guess they see plenty of pets every day. The normally surly TSA metal detector guys were really patient with me though.

Yay for globe trotting kitty!

[pingugirl]

did the TSA guys examine your kitty?

[goatforce5]

Kitty's bag needed to go through the x-ray machine. Kitty came through the metal detector with me. I was worried he was going to be nervous and leap out of my arms, but he was scared and holding on for dear life at that point, and jumped straight back in to his bag as soon as it emerged from the machine.

Actually he travels pretty well, as long as you stay next to him and he knows you're around. If you want away from him he gets plenty upset though.

[Vivtek]

TSA always examines pets; they did check my dog.