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Home » Emotional Support Animal (ESA) » When The Cats Take Over The Airport Lounge…
Emotional Support Animal (ESA)

When The Cats Take Over The Airport Lounge…

Matthew Klint Posted onAugust 19, 2019August 19, 2019 18 Comments

Cats Airport Lounge

Imagine walking into an airline lounge and hearing, “I’m sorry, my cat is sitting there. You’ll need to stand.” Would you just laugh at the pathetic hilarity of the situation or react in a more aggressive way?

I frequently criticize the use of emotional support animals, but it is not out of vindictiveness. Rather, it is because I view them, on the whole, as an unreasonable threat to passengers and their proliferation in the USA (versus the rest of the world) a sign that ESAs are being abused simply to skirt in-cabin pet fees.

But I’ve never contemplated competing with dogs or cats for seats in an airport lounge. Until now…

My friend Ed Pizzarello over at Pizza in Motion shared of his recent experience in the Air France Lounge at Paris CDG. He noticed a couple traveling together brought their cats along. One was kept on a leash, sprawled out on the floor, and needed frequent walks around the lounge. The other just sprawled out in a chair. According to Ed, “With no seat left for her male companion, he alternated between taking the cats somewhere (bathroom break) and wandering around the lounge.”

Laughs aside, is this the future of airline lounges? Sharing space with dogs and cats who are treated like humans? It strikes me as a bed precedent, like putting your feet on furniture or taking your shoes and socks off.

I’m not in the business of confronting passengers over behavior and I don’t view blogging about it as passive aggressive. But I do hope that airlines are taking note and will not simply allow lounges to be overrun by four-legged animals…

CONCLUSION

No harm, no foul? The moment the dog bites a child or the cat starts shredding the furniture, it will already be too late. Pets belong in a cage in the cargo hold. That’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it…

Anyone care to convince me otherwise?

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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18 Comments

  1. MeanMeosh Reply
    August 19, 2019 at 10:04 am

    “Imagine walking into an airline lounge and hearing, “I’m sorry, my cat is sitting there. You’ll need to stand.” Would you just laugh at the pathetic hilarity of the situation or react in a more aggressive way?”

    Well actually, I’d ask if I could pet the cat…

    • Magice Reply
      August 19, 2019 at 11:44 am

      “bed precedent”?

  2. hbilbao Reply
    August 19, 2019 at 11:09 am

    I love cats. But I do think they have to remain in a carrier whenever in a public place.

  3. WoofMacMeow Reply
    August 19, 2019 at 11:26 am

    I have to agree with you. As someone with pet allergies, I find it rude and disrespectful to my rights as a paying customer to have to avoid places because someone believes they need to be emotionally enabled. I don’t think companies are helping humanity patronizing this behavior.

    As a side note- I also wonder about the wellbeing of the pets, is there a study showing they don’t get stressed with air travel or the loud noise of the various public places their owners take them?

  4. LAXJeff Reply
    August 19, 2019 at 12:00 pm

    The airlines really need to crack down on this nonsense. People need to stop taking their pets on trips.

    • Cat Lover Reply
      August 19, 2019 at 1:39 pm

      Why do so many people have cats

      • Cat Lover Reply
        August 19, 2019 at 1:40 pm

        Why do so many people hate* cats?!

        • Eriks Reply
          August 19, 2019 at 5:34 pm

          Nonsense! Do you have or even ever had a pet? You obviousely don’t know the subject well enough. Pets are family members and must be treated as such. Many people choose pets over children, at least at some point of their live.

          While I do agree that pets should remain in their travel bags, while traveling, even that differ on case by case basis.

          There are rules when pets can be taken on board and those must be respected.

          It is not service for free, not at all, so stop talking about paying custumers. Sometimes pet fee is higher then ticket price for passenger itself!

          That’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it…

          • Vlad
            August 20, 2019 at 11:05 pm

            +1000000000000

    • Leo Katz ~Feline Regent Reply
      August 19, 2019 at 9:05 pm

      The airlines really need to crackdown on this nonsense. Those dogs really make the fur on my back stand on end with all thier uncouth ways.

      My Emotional Support Human really helps me deal with the stress those smelly dogs that only lick and smell certainly body parts. They really should bathe themselves daily like a civilized creature.

      But then again they aren’t worshipped by the humans like we are, but we did domesticate the humans.

  5. UAPremierGuy Reply
    August 19, 2019 at 12:15 pm

    Totally agree, Matthew!

  6. M1ck3y Reply
    August 19, 2019 at 1:18 pm

    And Matthew dreams one day of being a grown up and accepting that you snooze you lose …. if it was a kid would you ask the parents to move it ?

    • Bandmeeting Reply
      August 19, 2019 at 4:00 pm

      It wasn’t a kid., it was a cat.

  7. Paolo Reply
    August 19, 2019 at 8:29 pm

    I would like every lounge to have a resident cat ( and/or a dog, so long as the dog was of the right temperament and didn’t stress easily).
    I would be great to be able to pet them.
    Birds would be good as well. So would fish.

  8. Kenneth Reply
    August 19, 2019 at 9:43 pm

    Okay… Yeah… You’re right Matthew.

    But seeing those sacked-out cats in the lounge would have brought a big smile to my face.

    (And I’d have been tempted to slip them some smoked salmon…)

  9. James Reply
    August 20, 2019 at 6:21 am

    Wow! Your cat/dog looks delicious! Can I ask the chef to prepare it for us?

    If the owner stand up and goes ballistic, you can sit at the owner’s previous seat and say “thank you”

  10. dot Reply
    August 21, 2019 at 3:52 pm

    i agree the sane for large dogs sitting on the furniture in sky clubs etc..on the floor PLEASE

  11. Steve Stroud Reply
    May 19, 2021 at 11:10 am

    Cats Rule! OK xxx

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