When United Airlines begins accepting new reservations for its PetSafe program this summer, many dog breeds and a handful of cat breeds will no longer be welcomed.
United’s PetSafe program is currently under review. Working in collaboration with American Humane, United has established a stricter set of guidelines in order to minimize the risk of unnecessary animal death.
Timeline
Currently, only members of the U.S. military can take advantage of the PetSafe program.
United will begin taking PetSafe reservations once again on June 18, 2018 for travel for pets traveling on the same flight as their owner or guardian beginning July 9, 2018. Starting on July 16, 2018, United will again allow reservations for pets traveling alone for travel beginning July 30, 2018.
Reservations can be made as much as 30 days in advance, but must be made five days prior to travel. Be sure you assembled all necessary paperwork required.
Banned Breeds
The following breeds of dogs and cats will no longer be accepted for reservations effective June 18, 2018:
Dog Breeds
- Affenpinscher
- American Bully
- American Pit Bull Terrier/Pit Bull
- American Staffordshire Terrier/”Amstaff”
- Belgian Malinois
- Boston Terrier
- Boxer
- Brussels Griffon
- Bulldog
- American Bulldog
- English Bulldog
- French Bulldog
- Old English Bulldogges
- Shorty Bulldogs
- Spanish Alano/Spanish Bulldog/Alano Espanol
- Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
- Chow Chow
- English Toy Spaniel/Prince Charles Spaniel
- Japanese Chin/Japanese Spaniel
- Lhasa Apso
- Mastiff
- American Mastiff
- Boerboel/South African Mastiff
- Bullmastiff
- Ca de Bou/Mallorquin Mastiff
- Cane Corso/Italian Mastiff
- Dogo Argentino/Argentinian Mastiff
- Dogue de Bordeaux/French Mastiff
- English Mastiff
- Fila Brasileiro/Brazilian Mastiff/Cao de Fila
- Indian Mastiff/Alangu
- Kangal/Turkish Kangal
- Neapolitan Mastiff/Mastino Napoletano
- Pakastani Mastiff/Bully Kutta
- Pyrenean Mastiff
- Presa Canario/Perro de Presa Canario/Dogo Canario/Canary Mastiff
- Spanish Mastiff / Mastin Espanol
- Tibetan Mastiff
- Tosa/Tosa Ken/Tosa Inu/Japanese Mastiff/Japanese Tosa
- Pekingese
- Pug
- Dutch Pug
- Japanese Pug
- Shar-Pei/Chinese Shar-Pei
- Shih-Tzu
- Staffordshire Bull Terrier/”Staffys”
- Tibetan Spaniel
Cat Breeds
- Burmese
- Exotic Shorthair
- Himalayan
- Persian
Dog and Cats ONLY
Aslo effective June 18, 2018, United will only accept dogs and cats: no other household animals.
Banned Cities
During the warmer months (01 May thru 30 September), United will not accept pets traveling to/from:
- Las Vegas (LAS)
- Palm Springs (PSP)
- Phoenix (PHX)
- Tucson (TUS)
CONCLUSION
I give United credit for balancing risk with a desire to offer this service. If I’m playing armchair CEO, I wouldn’t even bother with the transport of pets. While the new breed restrictions eliminates one comparative advantage United had in its pet transport program, there is a reason American and Delta also ban these high-risk breeds.
Note, PetSafe is a cargo-hold program and does not impact United’s in-cabin service animal and emotional support animal polices.
> Read More: Surprise: United Suspends PetSafe Program New Bookings…
> Read More: Perspective: Why More Dogs Die on United
image: United
It’s about time. It’s bad enough they stuff us in like sardines and then allow a menagerie on board to make matters worse. Can you imagine emotional support peacocks and chickens going at it at 35,000′ ?
FYI: They will be shortening the in cabin list at a later date.
UA is in a tough spot. They took high risk pets that no one else would and then got crucified for it. You can’t have it both ways American public! And I can’t imagine flying a couple of pets is a profit center! It’s courtesy that bit them in the butt. They could pick up their toys and go home but I think “alignment” was the correct decision. As someone on FT said, just copy DL’s program!
UA wasn’t really crucified for anything that had to do with the fundamentals of the PetSafe program. They killed a French bulldog in a carryon (nothing to do with PetSafe) and they sent a German Shepherd to Japan instead of Kansas (nothing to do with breed restrictions, just general incompetence). They took comparatively little heat over the number of dogs that they killed in the cargo hold. With the new restrictions, they’ll just be more in line with Delta and AA in terms of how many pets they kill in the cargo hold, which is far easier to explain away. If you’re not going to offer a unique service for a niche number of fliers/pet owners, you might as well just copy Delta, right AA?
That’s true. I forgot the initial outcry was over a cabin pet. What are the odds?!? When looking into this I noticed 2 AGs considered filing charges. Wonder if those got off the ground?
LOL And don’t forget that giant rabbit!
I’m all for getting rid of the ESA program, which is a total farce, but I don’t really understand why they need to limit breeds for regular pet transport. In addition, some of the breeds listed are baffling. Pekingese? Pug? Shih-tzu? These certainly aren’t agressive breeds, and not large breeds either, so I don’t get the point. I would never subject my dog to the stress of air travel anyway.
Those smaller breeds like Pekingese, Pug and Shih Tzu have shorter snouts which in a way makes it harder to breath in certain situationsn I suspect that is why they are on that list.
I’d get rid of the programme too.