Pet Travel Expert

An article in the New York Times this week features a feathery situation in the airport security line.  Joe Sharkey, a Times reporter, was faced with pet flying his two parrots, Rosie (an African Grey) and Petey (a blue-and-gold Macaw) from Newark to Phoenix.  A difficult task under the best of circumstances, Sharkey found himself receiving a long, hard look from the TSA before boarding with Rosie, who would be flying with him in-cabin.  Then the time came for Rosie to be inspected by the TSA, which required looking under her wings for explosives:

My wife and I had never before flown with our two parrots, but this time they had to come along on our nonstop flight to Phoenix. Rosie could fly in the cabin.  ... We were very anxious at the checkpoint. My wife solved the problem, though. One of Rosie's tricks is to spread her wings and lower her beak if you ask her to imitate an eagle.

"Rosie, do an eagle," my wife said. Inside her cage with the screener's face framed in the open door, the bird promptly spread her wings wide. The screener had his look under the wings and lowered his wand. Merriment ensued all around — but it had to look pretty silly.

Flying with pets has always been somewhat difficult but tighter security restrictions are making pet travel, particularly in-cabin, even more stressful.

Almost a year ago, we reported a confusing pet travel directive issued by the TSA that made it impossible for pets originating from outside the US to be shipped unaccompanied or as manifest cargo without going through a "Regulated Agent" or "IATA-Approved" shipper.  Breeders who were used to sending their pets to Canada and then arranging to ship them back through other breeders suddenly found themselves in a tight spot, with their show dogs and breeding stock stuck across the border.  It also meant that someone living in a more remote city/country where there might not be a freight forwarder or registered agent who is capable and/or willing to book pets as cargo would have to either travel with their pet back to the US or leave the pet behind. 

As concerns about international and domestic airline security mount, it's important if you're traveling with pets to plan ahead and be aware of the difficulties.  Some ideas to keep your pet travel running smoothly include:

• Arrive to the airport early to avoid delays. Pets are like children - they can sometimes slow things down!
• Make sure you have duplicate copies of all of your pets' necessary paperwork.
• Crate train and socialize your pet in his or her crate.  This will help when it is time for your pet to be inspected by security.  In Rosie's case, a fun trick became a very useful training tool in a tense moment.