Flying the (Pet- ) Friendly Skies

The holidays are all about family travel—and these days the “family” often includes beloved four-legged members.

Travel agents needn’t be animal lovers themselves to recognize a potential pet-friendly niche market in serving clients who are.

Gone are the days when Fido was shoved into—or atop—the family station wagon as an afterthought. Today’s dogs and cats likely garner as much travel pampering as their human family members.

Billions spent on pets
According to the most recent survey from the American Pet Products Association, Americans spend more than $53 billion a year on their pets.

And for many, taking pets along on family trips—and even vacations—is increasingly popular.

Pet-friendly payoff
Pet friendliness is paying off in travel. Kim Salerno, president and CEO of Trips with Pets, Inc. in Wake Forest, N.C., has seen a jump in inquiries about pet-friendly travel.

The website provides information on pet-friendly hotels, restaurants and destinations as well as airline and car rental pet policies.

“The traffic to our site increased 35% from 2012 to 2013,” Salerno said. “And we now have 40,000 pet travel club members,” said Salerno.

Pet travel specialty
Barbara DeBry, owner of the travel agency Puppy Travel in Salt Lake City, has been in business since 2003.

She recently booked travel for a month-long birthday celebration in Paris for a client and her French bulldog, Tara.

The client originally considered traveling to the continent on the Queen Mary 2 but that required a booking years in advance for travel with a dog.

A furry travel companion
She wound up flying with Tara—who traveled in the passenger compartment in her sherpa-lined kennel. They stayed for part of the trip at the pet-friendly luxury Meurice in Paris and later in an apartment before renting a car for a trip to Brittany and a cottage stay.

DeBry said her client planned part of the trip herself but needed help with airline research and regulations, E.U. dog policies, even dog food restrictions for what she could bring into France.

Not so simple
While DeBry enjoys the pet travel niche, she said it’s important to note that it’s more complicated than it might seem.

“It’s easy to get carried away in making promises to clients. You want them to be happy when they’re traveling with their pets. But there are a lot of details to consider,” said DeBry.

She cites an example of a famous pet store that wanted to partner with her on a pet travel concept.

“They thought it would be lots of fun and a great promotion. But I started asking them questions and they clearly hadn’t thought it all out,” said DeBry.

Valuable advice
Advising clients about flying with their pets takes some skill, according to Leila Coe with World Class Travel in Gainesville, Fla.

She publishes the website And Small Dog.com to reach traveling pet owners.

Each airline has its own set of rules and regulations. Size, breed, age, health and species of the animal come into play. There also are rules about kennel dimensions, airplane size, length of trip and even ambient temperature to consider, she said.

“The airline website may give you certain information. A reservations agent may tell you something else. And the person at the counter may say yet a third thing. It can be pretty frustrating to handle airline travel for pets,” said Coe.

Demographic demand
Despite the learning curve, it still pays to learn the basics about traveling with pets, Salerno said. From a demographic perspective, the client demand is there.

“People think about their pets differently than they did before,” Salerno said. “They are part of the family. Add to that the fact that people are living longer.

“The older population has money to travel,” she added. “And if they have pets, they want to take them along.”