Pets on Planes

So I got to wondering today, is it just me or are there way too many pets on planes these days?

And, just so I can maybe avoid 1 or 2 hate replies I am a pet owner.  I have always loved all of my pets, I have spoiled them on occasion and we treat them like family.  I love coming home the unglued excitement of a wagging tail powerful enough to take anything not nailed down off the closest table but I have to wonder how much our pets really enjoy being dragged onto a flying tin can captured in close quarters for hours at a time only to have the doors opened to an environment where their owners speed walk to the nearest rest room but poor Jake still isn’t allowed to relieve himself?

I travel on a commercial flight somewhere between 30 and 40 weeks a year and it has gotten so nearly every flight has 1 or more pets.  With the exception of maybe the trained and certified Seeing Eye Dog, I have yet to see one of these poor creatures look even close to comfortable.  Most are well behaved mind you but some bark, howl, hiss or scratch but being a pet owner I also know the “I’m not comfortable and I am beyond nervous look that each of my pets had when we took them places they were not familiar with.

Because of this we never considered taking our extended family on vacation, we always found someone close who could provide the quality of care and comfort we would expect for our own children.

Did we miss them? You bet we did!  But we also enjoyed that reunion when we got back home.