United Airlines has announced to its policies for animal transportation.
And that’s bad news for about 50 breeds of dogs and cats. The airline said it will not accept reservations for certain “brachycephalic (or short- or snub-nosed) dogs and cats and strong-jawed dog breeds” to travel in the cargo department out of concern for health risks.
The new policies go into effect June 18. They allow only dogs and cats, not other household pets.
United said it will be working with American Humane “to improve the well-being of all pets that travel on United.”
“Throughout the remainder of the year, United and American Humane will continue to make enhancements as needed to further improve the safety and care of animal transportation,” the airline said on its website.
See the list of banned breeds here.
United announced in March that it was halting new reservations for PetSafe, its program for pets that travel in the cargo compartment. Its decision came “after three dogs were loaded onto wrong planes … and a fourth died in an overhead bin,” the Chicago Tribune reported.
United said it was “conducting a thorough and systematic review of our program for pets that travel in the cargo compartment to make improvements that will ensure the best possible experience for our customers and their pets.”