Animals

Snakes, scorpions, and Qantas planes

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Courtesy Qantas

Like a lot of airlines, Qantas is storing planes in the Mojave Desert while it waits for travel to return to pre-COVID levels.

The dry heat and low humidity of the desert make the California desert a good place to store the airline’s A380 aircraft. But engineers tasked with maintaining the planes have created their own special tool to deal with rattlesnakes and scorpions that like to hang out in and around the airplane wheel well and tires.

Qantas Manager for Engineering in Los Angeles, Tim Heywood, explains in a Qantas “Roo Tale,” that engineers make regular trips from LA to Victorville, CA to do aircraft inspections and that “encounters of the slithering and rattling kind are all part of the job.”

“Every aircraft has its own designated ‘wheel whacker’ – a repurposed broom handle- as part of the engineering kit, complete with each aircraft’s registration written on it,” said Heywood. “The first thing we do before we unwrap and start any ground inspections of the landing gear, in particular, is to walk around the aircraft stomping our feet and tapping the wheels with a wheel whacker to wake up and scare off the snakes. That’s about making sure no harm comes to our engineers or the snakes.”

New rules for service and emotional support animals on airplanes now in effect

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The U.S. Department of Transportation’s new rules regarding service animals and emotional support animals on airplanes goes into effect January 11, 2021.

You can read all the details here, but here are some key points to keep in mind if you’re planning on flying on a commercial flight with a service animal, emotional support animal, or pet.

The new rules define a service animal as “a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability.”

If you are planning on flying with service dog, you will be required to submit a standardized federal form to your airline attesting to the health and training of the animal and comply with other rules.

The big change is that DOT no longer considers emotional support animals to be service animals and has given airlines permission to stop giving those animals free rides.

To no surprise, many airlines are rolling out “no emotional support animals” policies. Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue, and United Airlines have already posted policies or issued statements stating that emotional support animals, be they pigs, dogs, birds, or possums, will no longer be allowed on flights after January 11. We expect other airlines to follow suit.

Pets still good to go. For a fee

Of course, airlines are happy to take pets on flights if they meet the requirements and have a paid ticket. Here are the current fees for buying a ticket for a pet to fly in the cabin on a domestic flight.

Alaska Airlines: $100 each way in the cabin; Pets allowed in the passenger cabin are dogs, cats, rabbits, and household birds.

American Airlines: $125 each way.

Delta Air Lines: $125 each way. Pets allowed: small dogs, cats, and household birds.

Frontier: $99 each way. Pets allowed: dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, and small household birds.

Hawaiian Airlines: $35 within Hawaii; $125 between Hawaii and mainland. Pets allowed: cats and dogs.

JetBlue: $125 each way.

Southwest: $95 each way. Pets allowed: small cats and dogs.

United Airlines: $125. Pets allowed: cats and dogs.

Temple cats – 19th to early 20th century

Alaska Airlines to give emotional support animals the boot

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Back on the leash

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has ruled that airlines no longer have to make the same accommodations for emotional support animals as they do for trained service dogs.

So it was just a matter of time before airlines starting to change their policies.

And now the changes have begun.

“This regulatory change is welcome news,” said Ray Prentice, director of customer advocacy at Alaska Airlines, in a statement. “It will help us reduce disturbances on board while continuing to accommodate our guests traveling with qualified service animals,”

Alaska Airlines is the first to take action. Starting January 11, 2021, the airline will only allow trained service dogs to travel for free in the cabin.

Under the revised policy, Alaska will only accept two service dogs per guest in the cabin, including psychiatric service dogs. Anyone flying with service dogs will have to complete a DOT form attesting that their animal is a legitimate service dog, is trained and vaccinated, and will behave during the flight.

Emotional support animals, whether they be pigs, monkeys, hamsters, lizards, or miniature horses, will no longer be allowed in the cabin.

Pets, including dogs, cats, rabbits, and household birds, can still fly, but they must be ticketed, at $100 each way. And passengers who bring pets onboard must keep them in a carrier, which counts towards the carry-on bag allotment.

So no more emotional support animals taking up a seat or a tray table. Or getting under you feet.

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Vote for TSA’s Cutest Canine

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Here’s something cute and furry for a Friday.

National Dog Day is coming up on August 26. And in preparation for that holiday, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is having a contest to pick the cutest canine from its roster of more than 1000 dogs trained to sniff out explosives.

Four furry finalists were in the running, chosen from those nominated by their handlers.

To narrow it down to a winner, the first match-up took place on Wednesday, August 19 between two of the finalists.

And it looks like Kajila from Honolulu’s Daniel Inouye International Airport (HNL) won that round.

On Thursday, August 20, the public was asked to pick their favorite between pup Lexa-Alexey from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Ron, who works at Oakland International Airport (OAK).

Voting in this second round ends early Friday morning.

On Friday, August 21, the winners of the first two rounds will go head to head, with the overall winner to be announced on August 26, National Dog Day.

You can vote on TSA’s Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

TSA’s explosives detection canines have serious job descriptions.

They’re tasked with screening passengers, cargo, mass-transit, and maritime systems, and they support other security missions. Each dog is specially trained and paired with a TSA handler.

If you see these dogs at the airport, you may want to pet them.

Don’t do that.

TSA says that “While TSA canines are sociable, they are working dogs and they should not be petted or fed by anyone except their handlers.”

Reno-Tahoe Airport has cute anti-virus pup protocol

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Worried about catching germs at airports?

We are too. But airports around the world are going all out to keep travelers and germs apart during this scary coronavirus time.

But for those worried about germs that may be spread by petting those stress-busting therapy pups, Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO) has some good news.

In addition to all the COVID-19 precautions they are taking, Reno-Tahoe Airport is also sanitizing the pups on the Paws 4 Passengers team after each ‘use.’

So go ahead. If you’re traveling you can safely pet those pups. RNO is operating with safe pup-cleaning-protocol.

And we suspect other airports are doing this too.

Know about other creative ways airports are keeping you germ free? Let us know!