Guide to Flying with your Dog in Cabin on Alaska Airlines

Overview

This doc provides a guide on how to fly with your dog in the cabin in a seat on Alaska Airlines. Read through the whole thing first. Many employees of Alaska (the phone reservations crew, the checkin desk, the gate attendant, and the flight attendants) will be confused, and try to make you do the wrong thing, so make sure you understand all of these instructions better than they do.

I first heard about this through Maple and Morty’s Instagram stories, which helped tremendously! I added some commentary here about the specifics, and some challenges I’ve faced having done this twice now.

There are many ways to fly with your pet on Alaska Airlines:

1. Pet in Cargo – this is a pet flying in the cargo hold. I highly recommend against it.

2. Pet in Cabin – this is a pet under 30 lbs that sits in a very small carrier in the seat in front of you (like a backpack). This only works if your pet is very small (like a chihuahua).

3. Pet as Cabin Baggage – this is the best way to fly with your pet: the pet gets their own seat in the cabin. This is the way to fly covered in this doc.

Note that #3 is not documented on Alaska’s official website, so many people, even Alaska employees, will doubt you. If you run into trouble, you can always call Alaska, talk to someone at Reservations, and ask them to reference their Call Center Manual about Pet as Cabin Baggage. You can also ask the Alaska employees to look in their Employee Manuals about this – it is documented there. I suspect many employees don’t know about this because it’s relatively new.

Prerequisites

1. Make sure you have a “Size 200” crate (or smaller) for your dog, and they are comfortable in there for long periods of time. I bought the “Small” one here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CL79WP14 It’s 26”x18”x18”, and fits perfectly in the seat.
   - Acclimate your dog to the crate, of course. Make sure they love it, because they’ll be spending a lot of time in it.

2. Your pet must be no more than 70 lbs.

3. Your pet cannot fly in the bulkhead seat (first row).

4. On some planes, you may be required to fly First Class due to the seat size. I don’t know the seat dimensions, but on an Embrarer ERJ175, it is required to be in First Class.

5. Alaska only allows a certain number of pets per flight, so make sure you book early. I don’t know what the maximum amount is.

6. Find your desired flight on alaskaair.com and confirm that there are two adjacent seats (click the "Seat" button when you search for the flight). The Pet must sit in the window seat, and you must sit next to the pet.

Calling Alaska and Buying Tickets

The total cost of the ticket for your pet is: an extra seat, plus a pet fee (+$100), a phone booking fee (+$15), minus some taxes (-$12).

1. Call Alaska Airlines (1-800-252-7522). You cannot book pet reservations online – it is only bookable via phone. This call will take anywhere from 30 minutes (fast) – 1.5 hours (average), not counting wait time. Many agents have not done this before, and the more you understand these instructions, the more you can walk them through the right process and make it easy.
   - You will be charged a $15 fee (unless you have MVP Gold+ status) for using phone booking, but this is unavoidable.

2. Tell them you would like to book a pet reservation, but say the pet is flying in the cabin on a seat as “Cabin Baggage”.
   - Make sure they are clear this is not only “Pet in Cabin”. (as referenced above, they may think you’re trying to fly with your dog under the seat in front of you)
   - They will make you pay a “Pet in Cabin” fee of $100. This is right, but make sure they are booking the Pet as Cabin Baggage.

3. They will give you price quotes. Pay.
   - Note that the Cabin Baggage seat will usually be ~$12 cheaper because there are taxes that are not applied to Cabin Baggage.

4. After you pay, ask them to add “OSI notes” stating: “this is a pet flying as cabin baggage, and pet should be allowed to stay in carrier at all times, including takeoff and landing”.
   - OSI notes are notes directly given to the flight attendants on their call sheet. This is to avoid flight attendants giving you problems on the plane in case they don’t know what’s going on, including kicking you off the plane. (from experience)

5. Make sure you ask them for the confirmation number before you hang up.

6. Once you book, you should see a ticket for your name, and another ticket for “Cbbg”. Cbbg is cabin baggage.

At the Airport and On the Plane

1. I’ve only taken short flights, but I’ve heard mixed results with CBD for dogs to reduce their anxiety. I would not recommend it.

2. You don’t need any records (e.g. vaccination and rabies records) for your pet, but it’s recommended that you have them somewhere on file. I’ve never been asked for them.

3. At SFO, you are generally not allowed to have the pet walk around in the airport. I think this is loosely enforced, but you may be asked to put your pet in the carrier and carry them around.

4. You must go to the checkin counter first to get your boarding passes. Again, make sure the front desk knows they are flying as “Pet as Cabin Baggage”.

5. Going through security can be challenging, especially if you’re holding a pet carrier. Get help from TSA agents and put the crate through the same way wheelchairs are put through, then carry your pet through the metal detector.

6. There are several “animal relief stations” at airports. Find them ahead of time and use them.

7. Once you get to the gate, let the gate attendant know that you’re flying with a Pet as Cabin Baggage. Ask them to confirm with the Flight Attendants that they’re OK with the Pet as Cabin Baggage, even during takeoff and landing.

8. Pets are not allowed to walk on sky bridges, or on the plane, so once you pass through the gate, you will need to carry them in their crate down the sky bridge and into the seat.

9. You will need to buckle in your pet’s crate (so it doesn’t become a projectile in case of turbulence). Most crates will need a seat extender, so ask the flight attendant ahead of time for a seat extender.

10. The person in front of your pet’s crate likely won’t be able to recline, so let them know ahead of time. Buy them a drink or something.

11. This goes without saying, but be nice and grateful to the cabin crew and all the employees! Alaska is the only airline doing this, so make them feel like they’re making a good decision supporting this. I suspect Alaska isn’t broadly announcing this (i.e. it’s not on their website) in case they want to take it away.
    Provide a good experience all around to everyone – don’t bring your pet if they have a high likelihood of barking incessantly on the plane, or if they’re not potty trained.

That’s it! You’ve arrived successfully.