Qantas says it won’t let dogs, cats fly in the cabin

It's a hollow initiative unless airports agree to allow pets in the terminals. Most don't. 

About time an Australian airline allows pets in cabins I welcome this change knowing my pet will be safe next to me instead of in the cargo hold.

Fantastic news.  Having flown a lot in Europe with our dog this is welcome news.

I wonder if "take no luggage" will apply to pet carriers in the event of an emergency evacuation?

It would be interesting to see a pet carrier that fits under a seat.  Would it be reasonable to put any adult cat or dog in it?

All the naysayers clearly don't travel much when it has proven to work quite successfully overseas for many years. And that is with more flexibility than what is being proposed here. I have seen small dogs on the seat with the owner in Business. 

It's all good for mine. 

I have always avoided hotels that accept pets now Virgin as well.

As mentioned above, how many pet carriers will fit comfortably under a seat? Humans already complain about being crammed into seats on flights. 5 hours Sydney to Perth for a pet to be in a confined space? I would hardly think anyone would want to see a pet subjected to that

As I have previously stated in the past, it's not the pets we have to worry about it's their owners......

And about other countries allowing pets on planes, first hand knowledge is that their owners seem to have a higher IQ when travelling with there pets whether it's domestic or international.

Ugh I really don’t support this. Having a pet and accomodating it is the owners issue. Adds another layer or complexity and annoyance to the cabin. 

I wonder what the cabin crew think 🤔 

I think I already know from past experience when an entitled owner has brought there pet onboard

Dogs and cats on planes?  I love my cat, and I loved my dog when he was with us.  However, I won't be travelling on airlines that permit them in the cabin.  It's hard enough to get passengers to leave their carry-on behind during an evacuation, there's no way anyone is going to leave Tiddles or Fido behind - so we'll have people trying to manhandle 4kg of pet plus 2-3kg of pet carrier down the aisle and down the emergency slide.  Last year we had zero deaths on scheduled commercial air services - but plenty of injuries (mainly relatively minor, thankfully) on evacuations.  Why do it?

For the record I have been an avid dog person all my life. Pets, like babies and children under 8, don't belong on planes nor can they be cooped up in hotel rooms. It's quite immature of you to quickly jump to conclusions.

But seriously, lets hope someone at Virgin has the foresight to limit 'pet flights' to those which ARE NOT in peak hours.  Suggest it be limited to flights departing between 10am and 3pm.

Typical dog and cat owners.  Think only of themselves. I don’t hate dogs or cats and am happy to admire from afar, but I’m allergic to them and don’t want to be confined on a plane with them. I have been in a plane in the US and had to be moved due to asthma which was fine as the plane was quite empty but if it wasn’t I can’t imagine how that would have been managed. I doubt I’d descend into full Karen, but being unwell through no fault of your own can bring out the Karen in even the most even keeled of us. Pop the pets in the hold. Oh AFWIW I doubt pets would love being imprisoned in a plastic box for hours. I feel for them.

Have experienced dogs travelling on planes in Europe several times, most of the time it becomes a nuisance has been in the airport terminals with dogs constantly barking and have also witnessed one pretty savage fight. On the plane actually feel sorry for the dogs and no doubt cats that are shoved in little cages and then shoved under the seat in front of the owner, cruel in my book. Have also experienced a long session of barking on one plane with the dog being transferred into the plane hold(?) after complaints from other passengers.

I for one will not be flying Virgin when this rule is introduced, barking annoys the hell out of me and I should not have to put up with it when trying to relax on a flight.

So - Virgin's gone to the dogs literally, whereas Qantas has gone to the dogs metaphorically, yeah ?

No no no and no. It's a joke in the usa. 

A Bulldog, Doberman, and Chihuahua are sitting on a plane. A beautiful female Collie struts by and stops at their seats, saying: "Whoever can say liver and cheese in a sentence can have me."

So the Doberman says, "I love liver and cheese!" The Collie replies: "That's not good enough for me."

The Bulldog grumbles, "I hate liver and cheese." The Collies says: "That's not creative enough for me."

Finally the Chihuahua says: "Liver alone... cheese mine."

Yay, now I can bring my German Shephered along with me.....oh hang on, he won't fit in a container under the seat. That must be pet discrimination?????

Yes, I am a dog owner but would not bring my pets along out of consideration for fellow passensgers.

Not a great fan of Virgin, but I will certainly have to revisit this position. An excellent move. Hopefully Qantas follow suit. Now if we can just get the rest of public transport on board.....

In a word - NO!!  If you can't leave home without blessing the rest of us with your pet, please stay home.

I am sorry to say, no pets on in the cabin accept where they have traditionally been carried. Been reading all these sob stories oh people can’t take their pets with them, sorry yes they can and have been able to for years, just in another part of the aircraft other than the cabin. And I believe it should stay that way!

I think Virgin will lose much more customers than it could possibly gain. Also, how do you fit an oxygen mask to a dog or cat? Perhaps they will be collateral damage during an emergency. I guess the pet and cage will have to be left behind during an evacuation, or perhaps virgin consider a dog or cats life is worth the same or more than a man, women, or child.

Looks like Virgin is not really considering safety as their top priority. 

At least there will be the option to use either Qantas or Rex and hence esclude any travel on the flying kennel (Virgin).

Animals do not belong in any cabin - First-business or economy. I would not be happy and as a rule I fly premium.

If it does get up, my current preference for Virgin flights will be reversed 100%, and they will be my last choice.

There’s about 20 other airlines that allow dogs in the cabin, presumably all have overcome most of the issues raised in the thread. If passengers choose to break the rules inflight or not follow crew instructions, then naturally it will be managed in the usual way with the authorities on call if required. It obviously can work as it works elsewhere. We don’t always have to be ultra conservative here surely. 

On a more serious note. 

My husband is immunosuppressed and has been told by his specialist that it is imperative to avoid bacterial infection. As dog faeces frequently contains antibiotic 'resistant' bacteria, that would rule Virgin out for us. I agree also with a previous comment about allergies (also real for us as our son is allergic to cat and dog dander) that it would pose quite a dilemma for the airline on full capacity flights, if as a result they had to relocate passengers away from the furry friends. 

It seems to me that Virgin hasn't fully considered the implications of such a decision. 

Platinum flyer here and I am not happy at all, so now I might have a yappy dog under my seat as the cage is shoved under my seat , why should I have to put up with this, I wrote and complained to Virgin, and also asked why did they not survey all their Velocity members ???, Did Jane do this because Bain are moving her on??

I'm a pet lover but this is a hard NO for me....  What about people with bad allergies ? Also its cruel to the animal to be shoved in a small box that would fit under the seat. In the cargo hold they can be in a proper sized pet carrier which at least lets them turn around sit up and stretch

Will Virgin let me take my pet snakes on the plane?

Not a fan - hope Qantas and REX continue to say No

Thanks Qantas at least one airline will be safe. For someone who is petrified of dogs, flying in Europe is a real challenge as the only way to object is to leave the flight and forfeit your ticket as you have no say on having a dog next to you.

Nothing like coming up with a really dumb idea that is guaranteed to more than annoy a high proportion of your customers, then leave the poor sucker who is taking over from you as CEO to clean up the mess, literally, you have just created.  Talk about handing over the poison chalice.

I just hope someone in Virgin's PR Department is keeping an eye on the comments about this on both here and in the newspapers. Will not be surprised if the idea is quietly dropped, or, the requirements become so onerous no-one uses the facility, then they can drop it and announce demand for the service from customers didn't justify continuing to offer it.

I predict this will last as long as it takes the first passenger or crew member to lodge an OH&S claim/case against the airline for inflaming their allergy response to dog or cat hair.

I’m also an animal lover, but many people are allergic to cat fur, so Virgin better be armed and ready for all the compensation claims (which will only increase costs to the rest of us).

I will exercise my choice to fly with another airline and will convert all my velocity points to Singapore Airlines if Virgin persist with this nonsense

Boomers…annnnd go!

Do you think it's a good idea to make a decision based on the results of a Facebook poll? I certainly don't. How many of the responders actually fly with Virgin? If you want to know what your customers really think, then spend a bit of money doing a video survey.
How about a Facebook poll asking if all fares should be limited to under $100. Sure it would be a massive yes - would Vurgin immediately accept it and slash all fares? 

Unfortunately for me i have allergies to pet hair, barking dogs and screaming babies, in the event i have an episode because of a "pet" where i become extremely ill very quickly, will i be compensated or do the "pets" have more rights than me, thank god i don't fly Virgin. Pets = BIG NO

If Virgin wants to attract pet owners as customers, more power to them. I'm happy to fly on any other airline that doesn't allow pets in the cabin. In any case, I wonder the idea will ever really fly, because as others have pointed out, there might be OH&S/compensation issues. 

Also, I don't think we need to label the people we disagree with in this discussion as 'woke' or as 'old/boomers'. We have enough people trying to start culture wars in this country without invoking that kind of craziness in a discussion about pets on aircraft. 

Why don't Virgin and other airlines provide special flights for passengers travel with their pets, so other passengers don't have to mingle with them.

It’s a hard no from me. Virgin!!! This is not America or Europe 

I don't have a problem with it as long as the option is only available for flights between 10.00am and 14.00pm 

This will give me the option take Pet free flights outside these hours.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out for VA. I'm glad QF has made their policy stance clear.
I do hope VA's implementation will make it clear which flights and rows are pet friendly and which ones aren't, so travellers can make informed choices. Will there be carpet or rubber mats in the designated pet friendly rows? Will the floors be cleaned any differently in these rows after each of these flight? Will there be special pet friendly zones/facilities at airports created for pets before flights?
I have found most (but not all) small pets in the US to be well behaved in lounges and on board, but I am not a fan. 

This crazy idea is a non-starter - unless every domestic terminal changes its policy on animals.  And the infrastructure cost to accommodate pets inside terminals?  The effect on round staff and cabin crew who may be allergic?  I had to  check the date to make sure it wasn't April 1!

What if you start on a dog friendly flight then when you transit to another carrier they change to no dog policy, what happens to the doberman.

Can I bring a baby American Pit Bull on board ?

How can the pride of Australia being pro "Kangaroo" be anti-dog ?    Lets be reasonable about this.

Years ago, when smoking was allowed on board commercial aircraft, there were designated non-smoking rows and designated smoking-permitted rows.   It seems that VA is aiming for that kind of segregation.  Clearly, there are going to be economy rows designated for pets.  Will there also be "preferred seating" rows ?  Will there be Economy X rows ?  Will there be Business Class rows ?  If not, why not ?  What a can of worms !