Adventures in Airline travel

[MissV]

Found this interesting/somewhat amusing article today: ParrotChronicles.com


All I can think of is "That poor little Lory, thinking it's all his fault" ; . ;

It got me to thinking though...have any of you actually flown with your parrots? Particularly in the cabin with you?

And for that matter...has anyone actually flown with any of the LARGE parrots? Like the Macaws? I'm not even sure you could do that...would they fit under the seat?

[SallyQZ]

I flew my CAG Tonka from Orlando to Los Angeles when we moved here. He was in a hard plastic pet carrier that slid under the seat. The only problem we had was when security decided that they needed him out of the carrier so that they could look for explosives (like I'd hide them in his little mirror/bell toy?!). I told them that if they wanted him out, they'd have to take him out because he was a mean S.O.B. and I got bit up enough trying to get him into the carrier in the first place. The fresh oozing wounds on my hands convinced them, so they just peered around looking through the wire top of the carrier.

On the flight, he was very well behaved but he did talk quite a bit. The woman in the seat in front of me was a bit startled when she heard a man's voice issuing from under her seat saying "Hello! How are you! Hello Tonka! Tonka wanna come OUT!" Once we explained what was under her seat, she was fine!

Despite being fairly high strung, he didn't seem to mind the flight at all. I think he was just happy to be with me, so the rest didn't matter.

[jenseits]

That was a cute story, but I was confused by this line:

For several years, there was a parade of lories in and out of my apartment

She says that either Mango or she (Mira) didn't like the new birds... so what happened to them?

I couldn't imagine traveling for 8-10 weeks at a time... or even thinking about what a sun conure would sound like inside an airplane. No thank you, no extensive traveling for me. And if I ever move across the country, I think it would have to be a road trip ... except that my Pi gets car sick easily... sigh... I don't think I'm ever going anywhere again.

[MissV]

Unfortunately, I too, think my Sun would either have to go on the road (she has before and deals with it well) or she'd have to be in the usual pet area of the plane, which worries me what with all the dogs and cats stashed there.

Ditto on the thing about the Lories. I guess it isn't that common for people to react to it as quickly as we do, but as soon as I read that I was deeply concerned about just what happened to those poor birds. -.-

I was also bothered by what seemed like a flippant disregard for them in the fact that she'd just keep trying another one....ugh.

But other than that! A good article. ^^

[MissV]

Out of curiousity, I've been looking for which airlines actually allow birds on in the cabin...

Virgin does not, and what's more, they don't even have an 'as checked luggage' option for any pets!

Lame, Virgin. Laaaame.

[LovelySydney]

Thats so interesting, I wasnt aware that one could fly with their birds. I guess that it makes sense if they are secure with you. Neato!

[Ashling]

When I was 14, I had my 2 budgies and 2 cockatiels in a small wire cage wrapped up in newspaper and I think they went in luggage. The cage was too big to fit under the seat and at such short notice we had no other options. I did not have a good flight thinking about them down there.

[jdlilfan]

I couldn't imagine traveling for 8-10 weeks at a time... or even thinking about what a sun conure would sound like inside an airplane.

Oh gosh I know what you mean! I'd probably be kicked off a flight if I brought screaming Cheeko along!

Ryan's mom worked as a gate agent for a while. The airline she worked for carried animals that were being sent to pet stores here and there and told all the horror stories about how carelessly they were handled. Absolutely heartbreaking.