Air Canada brings small pets on board (for a price)

oh great, a barking poop machine on board...grrrrrrreat...I love dogs, but man taking a back seat to a pooch? There's something wrong with that.

Disgusting

When does it end.
Businessmen make up a lot of the travelling business and usually like to get as much rest or catch-up on ready files when flying. If cell phones are allowed there should be a specific quiet spot for them to be used - not in the seating area.Tolerance of noisy vacationers, inebriated flyers of all types and crying babies already create enough discomfort when flying that are a fact of life. Why add to it.
Pets - no way. Allergies, smells, noise - why? Leave them in the carrier section.

Dont' get me wrong, I love dogs and cats! BUT to bring them into the cabin on a flight is insane! What are passengers supposed to do if the animal barks or meows the whole flight to say nothing of the smell of their litter boxes in an enclosed area, which by the way is toxic in those conditions and will be spread by the air conditioning system, possibley making people ill. It is also dangerous for any pregnant women on board!! WHAT are the airlines THINKING????

carol

To all pet owners and animal lovers, I think they will agree, it suits them better to have their little one in the cabin with them, instead of loading them in a dark, cold compartment. There is a fee to have them travel with you, if passengers object to this, find another way of travel. Some people consider their pets as children, do you think it would be fair to ban kids from flying in the cabin????

Jason Buckland,

First, your humor is not appreciated. (re the Stevie Wonder colonoscopy comment). That was in poor taste.

Second, it is narrow-minded idiots like you that makes this world such a difficult place to live in. You, sir, are nothing more than a selfish, opinionated tool. It is fantastic that AC has finally smartened up and has decided to allow pets in the cabin.

We all know people will complain about it, but do you have to use such harsh words to complain about it also. Shouldn't you just provide the facts Mr. Buckland?!?!

Of course, pets should be allowed to travel in the cabin!!

If people decide to fly, then there are things they have to tolerate....and that is just that!!

Personally, I know many people who don't want to sit by smelly passengers (you know people who don't wash as often as they should or people who don't believe in using deodorant because it's against their beliefs), but we don't make the stinky people ride in cargo.

Also, there are many people who don't want to sit by screaming kids either, but we don't make them put their loud kids in cargo.

And, people with allergies....well, they can take their medication and stop being so hard to get along with. I know people who are allergic to cologne, but they don't complain about people wearing cologne on the plane. They don't insist that the people wearing cologne travel in cargo. They simply take their medication and try to get along. After all, they did chose to fly!!

And, don't you dare say that these examples are not the same....because THEY ARE THE SAME!! Ask a woman who cannot have a child, just how much her pet means to her?? Ask the person with mental illness (and whose doctor is astonished about how much the patient has improved since getting his/her pet), just how much their pet means to them??

Besides, why don't people just try to put themselves in other people's shoes first!! Instead of doing everything humanly possible to NOT get along, why don't people try to do everything humanly possible to try and get along and be kind to each other and each other's needs.

This world is so messed up right now....and it's your tasteless way of presenting a story that does NOT help the situation at all.

Grow up....just a little Mr. Buckland.

Air Canada has said that the pooch/cat must stay in the animal carrier under the seat for the duration of the flight. Right! How long do you think THAT is going to last?! As soon as the flight takes off, the owner will take Pookie the Yappy Rat Dog out of the cage and sit them on their lap, giving the excuses that little Pookie is so cute, or little Pookie is so smart that they could probably fly the plane. First sign of turbulance, and the rat dog will dive under the seat, running from one end of the aircraft to another.

Heaven help the asthma sufferer.

Leave your pets at home, people. Not everyone shares your love for them.

Well said Tara.....and Mr. Leacock, you should read Tara's comment before posting your own, she gives many scenarios of things we, as passengers, have to put up with if we choose to fly.....I think your comment of taking the animal out of its cage is a little overrated, for us pet owners, its just peace of mind to have them close to us. Like I said in my previous comment, if it is a bother to you that much, find another way of travel.

In regards to Tara's comment, first of all calm down. Second, there has to be room for a little personalization and humour in someone's reporting style and nothing offensive was said as obviously no one with common sense would want a blind person performing a medical procedure that already carries a risk of bowel perforation, so lighten up. On to your main analogies of note and yes you are quite correct when you say that we don't place restrictions on other passenger's offenses to our sensory organs on board (smells, sounds etc) aircrafts so name one legitimate reason pets were not allowed in the cabin before. You cannot really site safety as the animal is secure beneath the seat and some would argue that passengers of size (obese passengers), as they are referred to in the airline industry, are presently an unfair safety hazard as they would occlude aisles and exits and require additional assistance in a deplaning emergency. So I think that we as a society have to be more tolerant of people with animals, after all we are tolerant of everything and everyone else.

Having travelled with my dog on many many flights on the "other airline" I can tell you that the babies and toddlers were the ones who through no fault of their own were the loud and vocal ones on the flight.

as a person with a severe allergy to cat dander that causes death threatening constriction of the throat, I am appauled!!!!!

Carol,

Are you talking out of your rump darling?? There don't be ANY litter boxes on planes?? Don't talk about stuff you know nothing about!!

And, yet another tool!!

Gerry Leacock,

I can't speak for AC of course. But, other carriers DO make you keep your pet under the seat. And, they are VERY STRICT about it. So, again, don't take about stuff you know nothing about tool.

Idiots!!

Actually for many years previously airlines, US, Canadian and European have allowed small dogs and cats in the cabin, and of course working animals have always been allowed in the cabin (usually large dogs). This was discontinued for a short time, but it looks like the airlines are going back to what they used to do. It isn't anything new, and it never seemed to have caused any problems. Usually what is and is not allowed in the cabin is either driven by safety concerns or by what the consumer wants and is willing to pay for.

Tara Hartt thank you for making my morning, you give animal activists that foaming at the mouth, red paint throwing, vegetable dress wearing stereo-type of an image we all get to suffer. Calm down because contrary to belief in your universe, it is not a polite salutation in civil society to call a complete stranger an idiot.

To those pet lovers who suggest that those people who dont want pets to travel find another way to travel, I think you should take your own advice and do the same. I would almost compare you to smokers who feel that they can light up at will and anywhere they choose. Im not taking a back seat to a pet anyday. And to suggest that someone take their medication and deal with it is absurd. What about those coming into the next flight that have no idea a pet was on the plane and have asthma. Should they suffer an asthma attack at 30,000 feet. Keep the pets in cargo and deal with it.

To Daniel,

No one is expecting you to take a back seat to an animal, but rather to respect that to some people animals are like family. We must tolerate screaming children on overnight transatlantic flights, when there are many couples and singles and gay persons out there who will never have children, don't want children and don't like children. So are we taking a back seat to the screaming babies too, are you saying that is what I should think?

For the last few years we have gotten use to having no pets in the cabin and that is the way it should remain.
Why do you need a dog or cat to take with you when you travel. I am a pet owner but thats what they are pets, some people treat them like they are a child or something to that effect. I have seen people treat their cats and dogs better than their children. Leave the animals home or put them in the bottom of the plane and let the rest of us travels enjoy a quite flight without a little yapper barking all flight long, which I had seen happen years ago travelling from Toronto to Vancouver.. 5 hours of annoyance.

Frequent traveller

PETS WERE ALLOWED ONBOARD FOR YEARS WITH A/C. ONLY ON THE LAST COUPLE YEARS DID THEY CHANGE THE RULE. WESTJET CONTINUED TO ALLOW PETS ONBOARD AND IN THE CARGO HOLD. A/C IS JUST DOING WHAT THE MAJOURITY OF THEIR CLIENTS WANT. TO BE ABLE TO TRAVEL WITH THEIR FURRY FRIEND AND KNOW HE IS SAFE WITH THEM.

I love my yello lab. I would never subject him to have to sit beside a smelly, corpulant, boor whom figures it is his right to fart, burp, snore, become near inebriated AND smoke during a flight. I simply could not do that to my best friend.

Air Canada, you have outdone yourself once again. There must be a working brain, one with common sense, located somewhere on the Board of Directors. Perhaps that brain will snap alive and put an end to this foolishness.