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Home » Law In Travel » Senators Propose New Bill to Regulate Onboard Pet Storage
Law In TravelUnited Airlines

Senators Propose New Bill to Regulate Onboard Pet Storage

Matthew Klint Posted onMarch 16, 2018November 14, 2023 3 Comments

a statue in front of a building

As I mentioned on Wednesday, there is technically no rule or law prohibiting the placement of pets in overhead bins. That may be a spirit/letter of the law issue, but at least two U.S. Senators want to fix that.

Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and John Kennedy (R-LA) have introduced legislation tasking the Federal Aviation Administration with creating explicit regulations prohibiting the stowage of a live animal in any overhead compartment. Steep fines be insured for non-compliance.

Their bill is entitled the Welfare of Our Furry Friends Act, or “WOOFF” act. (Typical…)

The bill seems in reaction to United’s solution to the problem: a promise to add a brightly colored tags to onboard pet carriers. Kennedy stated—

Pets are members of the family.  Unfortunately, for our pets, they are at the mercy of human beings showing some common sense. United Airlines is promising to put special tags on pet carriers to help flight attendants in the future.  I’d rather make it the law that animals aren’t to be treated like an old piece of luggage.

Recall, United updated its public statement late Wednesday to say:

To prevent this from happening again, by April we will issue bright colored bag tags to customers traveling with in-cabin pets. This visual tag will further help our flight attendants identify pets in-cabin.

That’s great, but I still think that is putting lipstick on a pig. The problem is far deeper: I’m not sure even the core4 training will be able to overcome this.

CONCLUSION

This likely won’t be a stand-alone bill, but attached to the omnibus FAA reauthorization bill. We’ll see if it survives once the controversy dies down.

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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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3 Comments

  1. eric Reply
    March 16, 2018 at 9:46 am

    Curious that “thoughts and prayers” was not the response from lawmakers in this situation…

  2. Potato Reply
    March 16, 2018 at 4:34 pm

    Curious that 1 dead dog gets Senators to act. Dozens of dead children, something that is arguably worse than the death of a pet, doesn’t them the same people to act.

  3. JoEllen Reply
    March 22, 2018 at 12:51 pm

    “Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and John Kennedy (R-LA) have introduced legislation tasking the Federal Aviation Administration with creating explicit regulations prohibiting the stowage of a live animal in any overhead compartment. Steep fines be insured for non-compliance.”
    —-
    We have one incident and these two Know-Nothings want to introduce a law to prevent it from happening again? This never happened prior to this. Maybe they should be investigating the passenger and witnesses around her who saw this happen and said or did nothing yet they were all “horrified” on Instagram and Facebook after the fact. Maybe they should come up with a law that allows the airline to fine passengers who don’t book or declare their animals while traveling – just sneak them on in nondescript carriers — this, by the way, is what this woman did. …..and who doesn’t check on or REMOVE their barking, whimpering dog during the flight ?? Everything this passenger did was wrong. The FA was unaware that there was a dog in this non-compliant bag.
    This is what our tax dollars go to – “feel good” politicians who want a pat on the back. Try enforcing laws that need enforcing – like proper justice and punishment for criminals committing mass murder, killings, rape, corporate corruption and theft. None of that seems to be more important than the result of a clueless passenger who lets her dog suffer. Animal cruelty.

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