Flying a pet

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/traveling-pets-airlines-dog-deaths/story?id=11198807

I won't do it. Absolutely not. Never. There are times when people feel it's the only option, but I still wouldn't do it. I'd drive across the country myself if need be. I would never throw my pet to that "machine" known as airline baggage handling. No way.

I've seen the baggage machine in action. To be fair, I have seen rampies that actually take a few extra seconds to consider the well being of a living breathing animal. But for the most part, it's just another piece of baggage. I've seen animal crates left out in the cold next to a plane because it was one person's job to get that piece of baggage to the plane, and it's someone else's job to put it in. That second person wasn't there yet, so the first person dropped it off in sub-zero temps, and just left it there on the tarmac.

Some planes don't have all their cargo locations heated. This means, live animals can only be carried in the heated areas since it's often -50 deg C or colder at cruise altitude. I've heard stories of pets being loaded into the wrong bin, with nothing said to the crew. Upon arrival, the crew was informed of a "dogscicle" found in one of the cargo bins. Frozen completely solid.

I also think of the rear-engined CRJ series aircraft, and the noise level in that aft cargo compartment. All in all, it's surely a loud and scary experience for the animal even if all goes as well as it can.

I think when you check a pet as airline cargo, you are rolling the dice. You might end up with a live pet at the end, but you also might not. As the above article states, when things do go wrong, it's a truly horrid, painful and fatal experience for your pet. I care far too much about my pet to subject them to such. If I wouldn't ride in the cargo compartment myself, then I wouldn't subject my pet to it either.

That said, there are a few people that I would gladly stuff in a cargo bin...