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Pets on board

Rferrell
Explorer C

I do not feel that pets should be allowed to travel on board with passengers. they should be in cargo with luggage like in the old days. i have an allergy to cats and I dread the chance that a person would board with a cat and sit near,

11 REPLIES 11

Re: Pets on board

Coastercub
Explorer B

I can certainly understand the anxiety that may cause you ! Speaking as a flight attendant I can tell you that the instances of cats traveling in the cabin is very infrequent. The majority of flights do not have pets on board. I would guess to say that maybe only one out of 25 times I have had a pet on board is it a cat.  I can also assure you that if you were to ask your flight crew if a cat was nearby and could they help you attain seating away from any feline passengers they would be more than willing to help! The one thing we always strive to avoid is unwanted medical situations !! Happy flying 🙂

Re: Pets on board

spiderblue
Explorer C

I agree with this passenger and your answer is as weak as "3 -day old dishwater".  Seating someone away from a cat doesn't get it done when the air inside the cabin is recirculated.  I have been a Southwest devote' for a long time and SW gets most things right; this issue is being taken advantage of and your poor customer service agents and flight attendants are afraid to say anything less the airline be sued for being insensitive to ADA.  This has to change.

Re: Pets on board

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

I agree that having pets in the cabin is not ideal, but just to clarify, cabin air is not 100% recirculated air, it's actually a 50/50 mix and highly filtered. Similar to an office building, over a period of time, the air does completely change from what was in the plane at the start of a flight.

 

http://www.askthepilot.com/questionanswers/cabin-air-quality/

Re: Pets on board

Allergic1
Explorer C

In a 737 for 3 hours at 36,000 feet with a cat shedding, cat scratching, cat dander everywhere or in a 737  at 35,000 feet for 3 hours with a slobbering dog, scratching and shedding dog dander and passing gas is clearly unreasonable and cruel and unusual punishment  for a fare paying passenger.  These "gifts" from the animals will linger for days or longer to cause allergic reactions to other passengers and flight attendants.  SW banned peanuts because of passenger peanut allergies, pretzels are OK.  The peanut ban is OK.  If someone needs a "support animal" let them get a gold fish.  Dogs, cats and small horses...come on SW, place the support animal (the dogs, the cats and the small horses) in the cargo hold, where they belong.  The Support Person can do without  the stink and dander of these disease vectors contaminating the passenger compartment for the duration of the flight and well after.

 

Sick and Tired of the Stink of Support Animals

Re: Pets on board

Allergic1
Explorer C

"Similar to an office building, over a period of time, the air does completely change from what was in the plane at the start of a flight."

 

What is the period of time???  10 hours???  What is the air change for a 737, number of air changes in a number of hours (like 1 air change every 6 hours).

 

A Sealed tube at 35,000 feet for 3 hours is clearly NOT an Office Building that is ventilated in accordance with ASHRAE requirements.  With regard to the assertion of 50/50 outside air and recirculated air:  Is this all the time or a small portion of the time?

 

With regard to the air being filtered:  are these HEPA filters (99.9999 efficient for 10 micron particles) or furnace filters (20 % efficient)??  How often are the filters changed?

 

How does SW remove the cat hair and cat dander in the carpet?

How does SW remove the dog hair, dog dander and dog slobbering on the carpet??

 

Place these animals in the cargo hold where they belong.  If one needs a support animal, get a gold fish.

 

These remarks do not apply to Service Dogs, that are highly trained and a blessing.

Re: Pets on board

dfwskier
Aviator A

@Allergic1 wrote:

"Similar to an office building, over a period of time, the air does completely change from what was in the plane at the start of a flight."

 

What is the period of time???  10 hours???  What is the air change for a 737, number of air changes in a number of hours (like 1 air change every 6 hours).

 

A Sealed tube at 35,000 feet for 3 hours is clearly NOT an Office Building that is ventilated in accordance with ASHRAE requirements.  With regard to the assertion of 50/50 outside air and recirculated air:  Is this all the time or a small portion of the time?

 

With regard to the air being filtered:  are these HEPA filters (99.9999 efficient for 10 micron particles) or furnace filters (20 % efficient)??  How often are the filters changed?

 

How does SW remove the cat hair and cat dander in the carpet?

How does SW remove the dog hair, dog dander and dog slobbering on the carpet??

 

Place these animals in the cargo hold where they belong.  If one needs a support animal, get a gold fish.

 

These remarks do not apply to Service Dogs, that are highly trained and a blessing.


Hello.

 

I guess that i'd make a few suggestions.

 

1) Always travel with medications that will alleviate problems in the case you run into problems

 

2) Ask flight attendents for help in being seated as far away as possible from animals on board the aircraft.

 

Federal law specifies that the airline must carry emotional support animals (ESA) as well as service animals. Southwest recently shortened the list of acceptable ESAs. As much as you would like to see no animals in the cabin, that just is not possible.

 

Southwest does not ship animals in the bellies of it's aircraft. Animals die there - especially in the heat of summer. Some airlines that allow belly shipment of animals refuse to do so when it gets hot. Southwest allows small animals in the cabin, and those animals are supposed to remain in their travel carries for the duration of their flights. The carrieres should contain the vast majority of dander and fur shed by the animals. So these animals should potentially casue you less difficuty than those mentioned in the paragraph above.

 

I'm sure the airline vacuums carpets regularly and shampoos periodcally, but that won;t completely

remove all fur, dander, and slobber , so an animal that was near your seat earlier in the day, or yesterday or even the week before might have left enough fur to casue you problems. That why the first thing I suggested was that you make sure you carry meds that will help you overcome an alergic reaction.

Re: Pets on board

BullsFan
Adventurer A

Don't forget the hair and dander that they leave behind- the planes are not thouroughly cleaned after each- no even after many flights.

 

This is a huge problem because SWA allows all kinds of pets and "emotional support animals" and it's become a HUGE problem with dogs roaming around leaving hair & dander that will send me and others with severe allergies straight to the hospital.

 

Someone needs to start a class action lawsuit I guess

Re: Pets on board

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

Lol, lawsuit because they don't clean and you have allergies? Good luck! 

Re: Pets on board

navyvet88
Explorer C

I am a disabled veteran who needs my emotional support animal with me when traveling. I have every right and a doctor's recommendation. So if it inconveniences you to be onboard with an animal, how about you pop a benadryl and suck it the **bleep** up.