Southwest Airlines to let small pets in cabin for a fee of $75

Southwest Airlines has decided to let pets, like small dogs or cats, in the aircraft cabin for a one-way fee of $75, on flights starting June 17, 2009.

The pet must be small enough to fit inside a leak-proof carrier kept under a seat and stay there for the whole flight. A maximum of two animals of the same species will be allowed in each case.

And, only up to 5 pet-carriers will be allowed on any given flight. 

Southwest Airlines will not carry pets in its cargo holds, which is a common practice with many other airlines.  

The airline also said, in a statement, that it would charge $25, each way, for children aged 5 through 11 who are not travelling with an adult. The carrier’s another plan is to double its fee, to $50, for a third piece of checked luggage or for bags weighing over 50 pounds. 

Southwest Airlines, based in Dallas, Texas, the United States, and the biggest US-based budget airline by revenue, is resorting to this step in an effort to raise revenue without troubling its passengers, according to aviation analysts. 

Southwest Airlines said that it planned to outfit its airport terminals with areas where pets can relieve themselves. However, the airline warned passengers that it “will not hold flights for passengers who take pets on a potty run.” 

Earlier, Southwest Airlines did not let animals in its cabins except dogs, which guide blind people, or pets that accompanied passengers for medical reasons. 

Aviation analysts say that Southwest Airlines, which is struggling to make profits in the time of global economic recession, is also under pressure from Wall Street to make up for the hundreds of millions of dollars it is losing by not charging passengers to check their first and second bags. 

Sales of Southwest Airlines dropped by 6.8% to $2.36 billion in the first quarter of the current year from a year earlier.

Some other major United States-based airlines let passengers take pets on flights for a fee.

While American Airlines allows up to 7 pets in an aircraft cabin and charges $100, United Airlines charges $125 per pet and also allows birds on its flights. 

Incidentally, US Airways, in 2000, even allowed a pig to travel in the first-class cabin on its flight between Philadelphia and Seattle. 

Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines also said that it was looking at making in-flight internet service available on board its flights for a fee, which many other airlines are already doing.  

Here are the fees which various airlines charge for pets and minor children: 

• Southwest Airlines: Pets $75; unaccompanied minors $25
• US Airways: $100 for pets and unaccompanied minors
• JetBlue Airways: Pets $100; unaccompanied minors $75
• United Airlines: Pets $175 to $200; unaccompanied minors $99
• Continental Airlines: Pets $125; unaccompanied minors on non-stop flights $75, on connection flights $100
• AirTran Airways: Pets $69 one way; unaccompanied minors on non-stop flights $39, $59 for connection flights
• Delta Air Lines: Pets $150 to $275; unaccompanied minors $100

All fees are for a one-way ticket, and the charge for the pet may differ depending on whether the pet is traveling as checked baggage or carry-on.