SEVERAL YEARS ago, when I was living in New York, I had a family emergency. I had to drop everything and get back to Oakland.
There was just one problem.
What to do with my dog, Sophie. I rescued Sophie, a Boxer/Beagle/Pit from the doggy gallows in 2001 when she was about 3. She is, shall we say, a "special needs" dog. Sophie suffers from a mental condition called "separation anxiety," which is apparently all-too-common among shelter dogs. That means she flips out whenever she is left at home alone. She has been known to shred curtains, devour sofas, and rip up blinds. Not to mention urinate and defecate all over the house. This state of panic will last for as long as it takes for someone to return. Once I left her on my balcony and she leapt 30 feet to the concrete below. Fortunately, since she is built like a tank, her only injury was a scraped elbow and elevated liver enzymes.
All of which is to say, I couldn't ask a friend living in a tiny New York apartment to mind her for an entire month.
So, I had no choice but to fly the mutt with me.
At 48 pounds, Sophie was too large to fly on board. Only dogs or cats small enough to fit in a kennel that can slide under the seat get to ride with their owners. Real dogs need not apply.
Sophie would have to travel below with the baggage — an idea that made me very uncomfortable. I knew that she would be terrified by the darkness and the sound
of the roaring engines. However, I didn't have a choice.
I rushed out and bought a crate at a local pet store. The vet suggested that I not tranquilize her because the medication had been known to cause heart attacks.
A friend dropped me off at JFK , which was a mob scene. This was in the months right after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center. The security and baggage check had been moved outdoors to the curb. People were lined up for as far as the eye could see.
Dragging my suitcase, Sophie and the bulky crate, I barely made the flight. Stressed to the max, I settled into my seat.
I hadn't even caught my breath when the flight attendant called my name and asked me to push my call button.
Sophie had escaped from the crate. The baggage handlers needed my help to get her back in.
The flight attendant walked me down a flight of stairs onto the tarmac. The engines were so deafening I could hardly hear myself think. I spotted my dog running with two baggage handlers in hot pursuit.
She was covered and I mean covered in dog mess. The two men had on gloves but clearly were not keen to touch her. Since it was my dog, and though I did not have on gloves, they wanted me to force her back into the crate. Sophie struggled and cried like I was gutting her but I finally managed to force her back in the crate.
Sweating like I'd just run the marathon, I hustled back up the steps of the plane and took my seat.
Five minutes later, the flight attendant was calling my name again. I clearly was not going to make this flight. I grabbed my bag off the overhead and headed for the door. By this time, the other passengers were looking at me with looks ranging from derision to suspicion.
It all worked out in the end. We ended up making a later flight. A very nice man helped fasten the crate door so my canine Houdini couldn't get out.
Alysa Binder and Dan Wiesel also had a bad experience with Zoe, their Jack Russell terrier, when they relocated from the Bay Area to Delray Beach, Fla. in 2005. After spending more than five hours in the hold, the normally gregarious dog was traumatized. That's when the couple decided to start Pet Airways, the first all-pet airline.
The first flight was last week. Now, people with big dogs who happen to be traveling between any of these cities — New York, Washington, Chicago, Denver or Los Angeles — won't have to deal with all that stress.
Pet Airways uses specially retooled planes with carriers instead of seats so that all dogs and cats get to fly in the main cabin. As Pet Airways says on its Web site, your pets aren't packages, they're "pawsengers."
Binder says the airline has been deluged with requests. Pet Airways is already booked up for the next two months. "The response has been very overwhelming and humbling," Binder says.
I'm not surprised. What a huge relief not having to worry about your dog roasting to death in some baggage hold. The price of a ticket on Pet Airways is $199 from New York to Chicago. Delta and Northwest charge $250 for pets to go down below. Some airlines only allow pets to travel in the cabin with their owners. If you do have a smaller dog, or a cat, it's cheaper to fly one of the people airlines, which charge an average of $125 for pets to fly in the main cabin.
But for those of us with non-Paris Hilton dogs, Pet Airways, which hopes to expand to the Bay Area as early as fall, and eventually to more than two dozen locations, is an idea whose time has certainly come.
No comments:
Post a Comment