People who travel or move with their pets are leaving commercial airlines for private flights, but why? Let us find out.
It is well-known that flying with your pets, whether for a vacation or to permanently relocate, can be a lot to handle. If you are flying your pet cross country without you, there are services you’ll need to hire to keep them safe along the way. If they’re flying with you, there is the worry of knowing you will be separated from your fur baby for what could be a long and stressful flight for both of you. Doting pet owners have been concerned about these worrisome factors and the rising costs of getting their pets from one place to another by air. Thankfully, private airlines are presenting a solution to all of these issues.
Private flights for pets
Flying on a commercial airline with your precious fur baby in tow has become more and more of a nightmare over the years. Those wishing to move cross country or across the world with their pets must navigate a selection of confusing and costly rules that change from airline to airline. While service animals, seeing-eye dogs, and companion animals are allowed to travel in the cabin near their owners, any animal not given an official service designation is relegated to their cage or carrier in the cargo hold. Not only is this a horrifying experience for the pet in question, but it also makes the flight interminable for a loving owner who knows their pet is scared and lonely. The pet mortality rate in cargo transit, especially dogs, is frighteningly high. It seems like adding insult to considerable injury to learn that, even with their unpleasant and often deadly conditions, the costs for transporting these furry family members have come through the roof in recent years.
Do not fret; there is more than one private jet charter coming to the rescue of these concerned pet parents and stressed-out animals in a big way. Private airline companies now offer pet flights and sell out every flight months and months in advance. It is a surprise to many pet owners that companies have taken so long to see the opportunity for what it is: a cash cow (animal pun not intended). Pet owners will do anything for their pets in the same way that parents will do anything for their children. Private airline companies that offer pets a place in the cabin are quickly making money hand over fist. They are still making substantial profits while providing pet owners with a far more cost-effective service than commercial airlines.
Pets who travel on commercial airlines in carriers allowed in cabins are subject to varying rules about carrier size and are never let out during the flight. The ones relegated to the cargo hold are also subject to size and breed discrimination, even though the animal will be in the carrier for the entire trip. The people who handle these pets during a trip receive no special training unless you hire a dedicated pet handler to fly with your pet – but even then, pet handlers can only check in on the animal at layovers and re-fueling stops along the way.
Pet air travel
Currently, these private flights are sold to several pets and pet parents who will all share the cabin on the same route. Pet parents can book a seat for their pet and themself, or they can book a seat for themselves and let their pet sit next to them on the floor at no extra charge. These trips come with the free benefit for both pets and parents of meeting other loving pets and owners travelling to the same destination as them or stopping off along the way. Rather than spending hours alone on the flight knowing that your puppy or cat is shivering in the cargo hold, you can fly in a luxury aircraft with plush, comfortable seating and have your pet by your side every mile.
Splitting the trip between the number of pet owners and pets leaves room for the airline to turn an incredible profit but still offer the service at a far lower rate than any commercial airline company does: it’s a win-win situation. Instead of queueing for ages only to be told that your flight is delayed for some incomprehensible reason, instead of sitting in a cramped cabin, squashed up against a stronger and their screaming baby, instead of regular in-flight food and no room to nap, you can fly the most luxurious way possible and cuddle with your pet at the same time. In a time when more and more people are choosing to have pets rather than children, it only makes sense that more considerations are being offered to this new kind of family. A global community of pet people can now exhale a long-held breath and know that flying with their fur child will never again be as harrowing an undertaking as it has been.
Flying in style and complete comfort has never been easier for you or your pet. With private airlines offering this new, potentially life-saving service, it’s a sure bet that the skies are now friendlier for animals to fly.
