Traveling or flying with a pet? Here's what you need to know before you go

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We Americans love our pets — so much so that in 2024, we spent $150.6 billion on them. About half of us have a dog, and more than a third have a cat.
I've had a dog most of my life, but I never considered traveling with one until early 2024 when my husband, Otis, asked whether I wanted to spend the summer in Massachusetts.
That was a no-brainer.
'Absolutely!' I replied. I wanted to see where he had spent his summers growing up, meet his best friend, eat 'lobstah' and check New England off my bucket list.
Then, reality struck. What would we do with Josie?
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Josie, a Morkie (Maltese/Yorkshire terrier mix), has lived with me since 2018, when my niece Hillary had her second baby and said, 'Aunt Janet, I can't take care of two kids and a dog. Would you like Josie?' I'd been dogless for six years, so that, too, was a no-brainer.
When I drove to Naples to meet Josie, she (Josie, not Hillary) wouldn't stop barking and leaping from one piece of furniture to another. I'm pretty tranquil, so her crazy energy concerned me. Thankfully, I brought her home anyway.
After figuring out my doggie door, she burst through it like a bat out of hell to run laps around my fenced-in backyard. She only stopped long enough to dart into my house for water. Then, she bolted out to continue chasing an imaginary mechanical rabbit around what she was claiming to be her personal racetrack.
Seven years later, Josie still has that crazy puppy energy, but when she wears herself out, she squeezes between me and the armrest of my couch.
When I recline, she sprawls out on top of me and rests her head on my chest while gazing up at me with big, brown eyes that exude love and devotion. If I dare take a break from patting her head or rubbing her tummy, she squirms and whimpers.
How could I leave her for two months?
Short answer: I couldn't. But, wouldn't traveling with her be complicated?
Yes! Yet, after doing so last summer, I can tell you it is so worth it — as long as you're sedated.
Here are five lessons I learned:
Since Josie would have been stressed without me for the two months we'd be gone, boarding wasn't really an option. Still, I researched it. In Palm Beach County, prices range from $44 to $66 per day, with additional fees for bedtime biscuits, story time, and personal playtime. We would have spent at least $3,000 for Josie's stay!
Driving would have been the least expensive way to travel, but a 3,000-mile, 44-hour round trip was out of the question. A previous near head-on collision had given me PTSD.
Since driving wasn't an option, we looked into flying. Delta — which charges $95 per pet per flight — was our best choice.
But flying with a pet also meant more expenses: a vet fee (for a health certificate and sedatives) and an airline-approved pet carrier (soft-sided, ventilated, leak-proof, and 18 by 11 by 11 inches) — which I purchased from Amazon for $46. I also had to buy a dog bed in Massachusetts.
Josie stayed for free at the house we rented, but we took several short trips. One hotel didn't charge for her, one charged $100, and another $125.
The hotels had a weight limit (for Josie, not us), barking restrictions (again, for Josie), and legal paperwork with too much small print to read — placing the financial burden on us should one of us leave fleas behind or destroy property. And if anyone complained about barking, we could be asked to leave and would not receive a refund. As we signed on the dotted lines, we begged Josie not to make us regret bringing her.
Once we decided on flying, the real fun began.
Delta allows 20-pound-or-under pets to fly under the seat in front of their person. Fortunately, Josie had been dieting for a year and weighed 18 pounds.
Before purchasing airline tickets, I called Delta to reserve a spot for Josie, as they limit the number of dogs per flight. My greatest fear was that Josie wouldn't let us stuff her into her carrier. So, Otis began Operation-Acclimate-Josie-to-Her-Kennel-by-Putting-Her-Favorite-Treat (Popcorn)-In-It on a daily basis.
My second greatest fear was that she wasn't — as stipulated — 'small enough to fit comfortably' in her carrier and didn't have 'the ability to move around without touching or sticking out from the sides.'
I wondered whether they cared that at 6-foot-2, I don't fit comfortably in my seat, can't move around, and stick my legs out when I can.
In case Josie didn't cooperate, or Delta said she was too smooshed and wouldn't let her fly, we came up with Plan B.
After dropping us off at the airport, my stepson would circle around waiting for a thumbs-up text. If need be, he'd take custody of Josie until he could hand her off to my daughter, who — with a baby and two dogs of her own — would be less than thrilled.
At the airport, we took Josie to the Special Service Counter, where an agent made sure she and her kennel met Delta's requirements, and I paid the fee.
This was also where Josie demonstrated her best problem-solving skills by nudging the zipper open in a thankfully-thwarted attempted escape. With Zipper Security in place, we passed inspection.
We were so thrilled and relieved that we forgot to send a thumbs-up text. My stepson is still circling the airport.
At home, I walk Josie a few times a week for exercise, but she mostly takes care of her business in my backyard. With no doggie door and fenced-in yard at our place in Massachusetts, I was in charge of her potty breaks. I made a shocking discovery. Josie goes. A lot. Translation: I needed a lot more poop bags than I packed.
For future trips with Josie, before booking a hotel, I'll check out its surrounding area. When we stayed in Boston for a few days, we had to walk three blocks to get to a grassy area. Three blocks probably seemed like 3 miles to poor Josie, who'd been holding it for hours in our hotel room.
Something else we didn't anticipate? Finding ticks on all three of us after a hike. We responded the only way we could. We researched Lyme disease, freaked out, and bought tick spray. Oh, and removed the ticks.
On the first leg of our journey, Otis carried Josie in her carrier. But, for our return flight, Josie and I were on our own. I soon learned that carrying 18 pounds of a squirming fur baby while pulling a suitcase isn't easy, so I now have wheels for her carrier for future trips.
At security, I felt like a single mom with a squirming infant — except my 'baby' had four legs and a tail, and the rules seemed to change every five minutes.
'Take her out of the kennel. Don't take her out. Put her on a leash but hold her. Put her down. Don't take her through the scanner with you.' Oy vey.
Josie may be a Florida girl, but I'd never taken her to the beach. Her reaction to her first ocean encounter in Brant Rock was priceless: Barked at the waves. Sampled the salt water. Swore off salt water. For life.
We often went on long walks along the ocean, and others almost always stopped to talk to us because of Josie. She also befriended our next door neighbors' dog Bentley, even though he was four times her size.
Josie never had any idea where we were going in our rental car, but she always wanted to go. If begging didn't work, she tried reverse psychology. To try to trick us into taking her, she'd lie in bed and pretend she didn't care if we left without her. But, when we tried double reverse psychology and feigned that we didn't care that she didn't care, she let us know there would be consequences to pay if we left her behind. This was her vacation, too, darn it!
In the evenings, most of our neighbors sat in rockers on their front porch. We were happy to adopt this lifestyle and enjoyed watching Josie go nuts because we wouldn't let her out of our screened-in porch to chase the bunnies hopping around our front yard.
My husband's BFF offered to keep Josie when we went on overnighters, but the truth is we would've missed her. We'd learned that we enjoyed traveling with her.
Because our kids were grown when Otis and I married in 2020, his kids don't think of me as their stepmom, and mine don't think of him as their stepdad. This trip was the first time he and I felt as if we were co-parents.
At the end of our trip, my husband — who had only owned big dogs — said, 'For a small dog, Josie's not bad. She's not yappy, and when I talk to her, she looks me in the eye.'
In March, he stayed with her for a week while I visited my son in Georgia. When I returned, Josie made sure I noticed that she was snuggling next to him, not me. A couple of days later, Traitor Josie — as I started calling her — must have forgiven me because, once again, she's a mama's girl.
Despite the challenges, traveling with Josie made our trip unforgettable. And she was so good that on both flights, the person whose seat she was under didn't even know she was there. She will definitely be coming with us on our next adventure. After all, she's part of our family.
Janet Meckstroth Alessi is a frequent contributor to Accent. She can be reached at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Traveling with a pet? Here's what you need to know before you go