[nagdu] airline seating

Jenine Stanley jeninems at wowway.com
Wed Apr 14 14:20:57 UTC 2010


Hi Albert, 

I'm answering this in part as a handler and in part as someone who has
followed the regs and associated discussions for many years now outside of
my job at GDF. 

Where you sit in an airline cabin is a personal choice that, thanks to the
Air carrier Access Act, can be made by you and not mandated by the airline.
It also depends greatly on your dog. I've flown with 6 of my 7 dogs now and
their comfort levels with different seats have varied a good bit. 

One of my dogs loved to go down and under the regular seats. Being a
48-pound Lab, she could curl up and no one knew she was there. Same with my
tiny Golden until he began to have spinal problems and couldn't curl up as
well. 

My big Golden, though he would easily go down and under regular chairs and
such, hated being stuffed under an airline seat and would inevitably get
sick. I chose to sit in bulkhead with him. 

My little Lab girl would spread out like dirty laundry in the bulkhead and
make everyone uncomfortable as well, so we rarely sat there. It was always a
frustration too because though there was no specific federal law saying we
had to sit there, there was also no law saying we didn't, if that makes
sense. 

Though Molly, my Lab/Poodle, could certainly curl under a seat, she was
pretty hyper-aware and would get very upset if she couldn't see what was
going on. As she grew more unstable, she hated any kind of confinement, so
again, bulkhead was the best choice for her. 

My current dog is 26 inches at the shoulder and 72 pounds but he can go
under just about any seat and be comfortable. He's also fine and compact in
bulkhead. I'll take any seat these days but that could change with the next
dog. 

Only you can determine the best place for you and your current dog to sit. 

In many seating configurations there's actually more space under the seats
in front of you than in the bulkhead. The only issue is that some airlines
have things under the seats, like life vests and other equipment, that makes
the space smaller in height and thus, more difficult for some dogs to get
situated in. 

Hope that helps. 

Jenine Stanley
jeninems at wowway.com







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