Pets in the Cabin - Coming soon on Virgin Australia

MEL_Traveller said:
85% of pax seem to want this. I've only been on a few flights with pets, but they've never been an issue.
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Can you share your research with us please?

Until then, I'd suggest it is more like 85% do NOT want them on a plane.

I have always owned cats and dogs, and love them all, and despite travelling many millions of miles have never taken one into a cabin.

Virgin will charge what - $50 an animal - and p!ss off many on that plane alone, and in general see large swags of folks NOT book Virgin as a result, as a conscious decision, if QANTAS does not follow suit, 'just in CASE' a yapping dog is on their flight.

To lose just ONE paid passenger seat to Qantas, far outbalances the $50 pet fee.

Dumber than dirt. The income, versus loss of patronage, will be of a 100 or 1000 factor.

Americans own literally 400 MILLION guns too - let's all then slavishly follow that 'great' American idea too. 😡
 
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ozstamps said:
Can you share your research with us please?

Until then, I'd suggest it is more like 85% do NOT want them on a plane.

I have always owned cats and dogs, and love them all, and despite travelling many millions of miles have never taken one into a cabin.

Virgin will charge what - $50 an animal - and p!ss off many on that plane alone, and in general see large swags of folks NOT book Virgin as a result, as a conscious decision, if QANTAS does not follow suit, just in CASE a yapping dog is on their flight.

To lose just ONE paid passenger seat to Qantas, far outbalances the $50 pet fee.

Dumber than dirt. The income, versus loss of patronage will be a 100 or 1000 factor.

Americans own literally 400 MILLION guns too - let's all follow that 'great' American idea too.
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Allegedly the results of VA's own polling.
 
ozstamps said:
Can you share your research with us please?

Until then, I'd suggest it is more like 85% do NOT want them on a plane.

I have always owned cats and dogs, and love them all, and despite travelling many millions of miles have never taken one into a cabin.

Virgin will charge what - $50 an animal - and p!ss off many on that plane alone, and in general see large swags of folks NOT book Virgin as a result, as a conscious decision, if QANTAS does not follow suit, just in CASE a yapping dog is on their flight.

To lose just ONE paid passenger seat to Qantas, far outbalances the $50 pet fee.

Dumber than dirt. The income, versus loss of patronage will be a 100 or 1000 factor.

Americans own literally 400 MILLION guns too - let's all follow that 'great' American idea too.
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I while respect the thoughts, I think you probably aren't on the money here. If they've done some homework and flagged it then it could be more popular that you think.
 
henrus said:
Although they will need to convince airports to change their policies to allow pets in terminals as some ban that, then also the regulator. There is a fair amount of work to be done to make this happen meaning a few issues along the way.
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It's interesting to announce this before they've done all of that.

Would have thought it would be better if they at least had some agreements from some airports etc.

(Presumably with a $ payment to the airport for extra cleaning fees etc)
 
MEL_Traveller said:
But the same equally applies to the carriage of guide dogs. There arent general disclaimers now regarding the carriage of those animals and for people that might be allergic to dogs. I suspect that airlines don't have special cleaning protocols after a guide dog has been on board?
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Yes but we accept that guide dogs are a necessity for vision impaired people. And rarely used.
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TheRealTMA said:
Still has large elements of rank stupidty, IMHO! Can't have dogs in restaurants but now allowed on planes??
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So many organisations, including Governments, have thought bubbles based on their own expectations and which are rarely tested in public and likely never given consideration to funding.
 
So Virgin say that they have polled passengers and the vast majority want this.
I would have thought that they would target their own frequent fliers for a start but judging by the comments, noone here has been surveyed.
If they asked me, which they didn't, it would be enough to turn me reluctantly from VA back to QF.
 
Birdblack said:
Makes it easy to never fly with them again.

I don't want the noise of dogs barking (god imagine if there's more than one on board and they're barking at each other) or the smell, even if they don't go to the toilet or vomit. Virgin's basically said the passenger experience of everyone else on that plane is less valuable and important than the ignoramous who's travelling with an animal.

Are flight attendants going to step in and manage noise for the comfort of everyone else? Are they going to step in and clean up mess? How is this going to be managed for evacuation procedures? Does spot stay on board? Can't wait for the ATSB investigation when half a plane load of people needlessly die because someone held up an evacuation because they couldn't get their dog cage out from under the seat.

And I see ausbt is reporting there will be defined pet areas, so will we need to pay more to be away from a dog? How will they manage this? What about someone with allergies?
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Totally agree 100%

I have a deep rooted dog phobia. If Virgin really do go ahead with this I will be racing back to Qantas with my tail between my legs. Pun intended.
 
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Fellow on ABC Brisbane with Kat Feeney today was complaining that it's discrimination to only allow small dogs and not allow HIS dogs, one os 30Kg and the other 60Kg and they are would just curl up at his feet on the plane. 😊 😊
 
zoraya_lane said:
Damn some of you are dramatic af. Europe and the US have managed to do this for a long time and the world hasn’t melted down— Virgin offering it on limited flights (so people with allergies need not take them) is a great move imo as someone who travels regularly for work and would love to be able to take a pet with me having avoided getting a dog for years due to my frequent travel.
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The limitation on specific flights (if that's the intent) does very little to reduce the health risk and load on cleaning.
To rotate a pet-friendly plane to a no-pets run would need a much deeper clean than the usual tidy-up, even when all pets would be still in their cages.

I'm yet to come across pets in cabin but the bare minimum VA should do is to allocate a specific small segment of the cabin for pets. the last N rows are probably most reasonable, especially when boarding & disembarking happens via rear stairs. That gives a little bit of separation between pets and those who can't be in the same premise with them.

Personally, I'd love to have a pet (one of those hypoallergenic cat breeds which I hopefully would survive or at least manage with it) but can't imagine putting it through the stress of travel in a cage. Somebody please think of the pets' feelings, too...
 

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