Many people love their pets — some so much so that they will do whatever they can to travel with them for free under the guise of emotional support animals, as evidenced by the plethora of articles posted here at The Gate which I have written extensively over the years pertaining to service dogs and emotional support animals. The articles include…
- Emotional Support Animal Bites Guest at Hotel: Who is Responsible?
- Banning Emotional Support Animals From Airplanes: Your Comments Requested by the Department of Transportation
- Another Example of Why People Register Their Pets as Emotional Support Animals
- Not One, But TWO Huge Emotional Support Dogs In the Same Row in Business Class
- Final Statement on Emotional Support Animals Aboard Airplanes Issued by Department of Transportation of the United States
- Flight Attendant Bitten by Emotional Support Dog
- Man Bitten By Emotional Support Animal Sues Airline For Damages
- Emotional Support Animals Banned on Long-Haul United Flights — And…
- Emotional Support Animals Banned on Long-Haul Delta Flights — And…
- Stricter Requirements for Emotional Support Animals By Southwest Airlines
- Stricter Requirements for Emotional Support Animals By JetBlue Airways
- Stricter Requirements for Emotional Support Animals By American Airlines
- Passengers To Be Limited to One Emotional Support Animal on Delta Air Lines
- Stricter Requirements for Emotional Support Animals By Alaska Airlines
- Stricter Requirements for Emotional Support Animals By United Airlines
- Enhancements Added to Stricter Requirements for Emotional Support Animals and Service Dogs By Delta Air Lines
- Stricter Requirements for Emotional Support Animals and Service Dogs By Delta Air Lines
- In Defense of Emotional Support Animals? Not Exactly
- Forget Hamsters. How About True Emotional Support From an Airline?
- Can an Emotional Support Animal Be Used as a Threat?
- Why It is NOT Time to Ban Emotional Support Animals From Airplanes
- Confession by Pet Owner: “Emotional Support Dogs” are “B.S.”
- Emotional Support Animals: More Evidence of Faking
- Support Animals Versus Allergies: Here We Go Again
- Woman Forcibly Removed From Airplane Reignites Support Animals Versus Allergy Debate
- Service Animals or Emotional Support Animals: A Pig Continues The Debate
- Service Dog Denied Permission to Board an Airplane? Yeah — When Pigs Fly! Oh, Wait a Minute…
- When Pigs Fly: Somebody Tell The Sun That This is 2017
- Passengers Applaud as Boy Allergic to Dog is Removed From Airplane
- Update: Misinterpretation of Applause From Passengers Over Allergic Boy? What Really Matters is…
- Service Animals: Your Comments Requested by the Department of Transportation
- Delta Air Lines to No Longer Accept Pets as Checked Baggage
- Service Dog Denied Permission to Board an Airplane? Yeah — When Pigs Fly! Oh, Wait a Minute…
- Video: Woman Escorted Off the Airplane By Police Because of Her Unruly Dog
- Can Orphaned Parrots, Crows and Ravens Qualify as Service Animals?
- Service Animals Bill: Could a Legal Decision Arrive in Florida as Soon as Tomorrow?
- Service Animals Bill Unanimously Passes in Florida Today; To Become Law on July 1, 2015
- Court Rejects Ruling of Air Canada Separating Dogs From Allergic Passengers
- Dog Days in Flight, and How to Avoid Paying a Fee for Your Dog
Which 50 Airlines are Best For Traveling With a Pet?
…but emotional support animals is not the topic of this article, which is actually about passengers who are not willing to compromise for the comfort of their pets — no matter what the cost — when traveling with them.
This article from Budget Direct highlights the pet-friendly policies of the top 50 airlines in the world — for which customers voted. The airlines were rated out of ten in categories such as cost-per-pet, cabin allowance, and openness to welcoming ‘unusual’ animals. Each airline ended up with a score out of 100, and these scores were used to rank the top 50 pet-friendly airlines worldwide.
I have been given express written permission to use the illustrations and the verbatim text from the aforementioned article in this article; so let us take a break from the rough news of the day — which is mostly for the dogs — and take a bite out of the rankings listed below.
And Now, The Airlines Which are Best for Traveling With a Pet are…
You can see plenty of puppies riding in bicycle baskets around the streets of the Netherlands, and it turns out Dutch pets like to travel by air, too. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is paws-down the winner for pets on planes, with a score of 81.8/100. That’s nearly 5 points ahead of second-ranked Air France. A look at the chart shows that KLM scores strongly across all categories, while third-placed Air Canada scores high for their low travel fees (just $82 per pet) but falls behind with its limit of 45kg for pets who fly in the hold.
Where are the most pet-friendly airlines based?
The best airlines for pet travel are based across just three continents. Europe is a hub for jet-setting pets, with five out of the top ten pet-friendly airlines, plus Turkish Airlines and Russian Aeroflot in countries that straddle European-Asian borders. South Korea has two airlines in the top ten, and Air Canada is the only representative of North America.
Who are the top and bottom-ranked airlines for pets on planes?
The airlines we reviewed were already highly rated for humans, so the high pet-friendliness scores of airlines like KLM and Lufthansa prove they have cross-species appeal! However, the airlines at the bottom of our pet-friendly chart seem to think much more highly of humans than of cats and dogs. Australia’s Jetstar Airways is in bottom place with a big fluffy zero because the airline “is not equipped to transport your pets” (although they’re kind enough to recommend ‘pet travel experts’ Jetpets to sort it out for you).
Pet-friendly airlines are the ‘bring your dog to work’ employers of the leisure industry. If one of these airlines is travelling in your direction, why not check in next time you want to travel with four-legged company; you’ll know your dog, cat, or emotional support alligator will be well looked after.
Summary
To create the aforementioned charts, a detailed review of the pet policies of the top 50 airlines in the world — as ranked by the annual Skytraxx airline rankings in 2019 — was conducted. The information on the pet policies were sourced from the official Internet web sites of the airlines; and Internet web sites such as BringFido and PetTravel were also used to find additional information. Each airline was then scored and ranked based on their policies.
The research behind this project was conducted between Friday, March 20, 2020 and Wednesday, April 1, 2020.
That no airline based in the United States ranked in the top ten should be of no surprise to anyone; and notice that neither American Airlines nor United Airlines placed in the top 50 airlines which are friendliest to pets…
…especially as United Airlines was reportedly responsible for 75 percent of the deaths of animals aboard airplanes operated by domestic carriers in the United States in 2017; as well as almost 87 percent of injuries to animals. Additionally, the French bulldog puppy of a passenger died after the bag in which it was stored was placed in an overhead bin aboard an airplane operated by United Airlines back in March of 2018; and a giant rabbit also died during a flight operated by United Airlines from London to Chicago.
Other articles which were written over the years at The Gate pertaining to traveling with pets include:
- United Airlines Tightens Restrictions on Its PetSafe Program
- Delta Air Lines to No Longer Accept Pets as Checked Baggage
- Travel Stress Goes to the Dogs at Airport in Atlanta, Too
- Dog Days at San Francisco International Airport
- Excessive Dog Excrement Forces Emergency Landing
- Airport Security Dog Bites Woman in Baggage Claim
- Would “Bark Hyatt” Resolve Some Pet Peeves?
- Wait Your Turn. The Dog is Using the Lavatory…
- Dog Days in Flight, and How to Avoid Paying a Fee for Your Dog
- The Dog Days of Upgraded Airline Travel
- Im-pet-uous Hotel Guests?
- Pet Peeve: Airfares for Pets Increase
- Moving cross-country with pets
Photograph ©2008 by Brian Cohen.
