When
the day of departure arrived, I was a bit nervous, but got thru security and
onto the plane with no problems at all.
Once the plane pushed off and was taxing down the runway, I let Luke
poke his head out of his travel bag, like I’d done on our previous flights.
Just then the stewardess came to check that seatbacks were up and tray tables
locked away…she stopped short and her eyes just about bugged out of her head.
“Is that a dog?” she asked. The shocked look on her face made me decide to play
dumb and see where this would go. I simply said “Yes it is”. She asked for his ticket and I said I didn’t
know he needed one.
She told me to put him completely
back in the bag and for us to stay put (no problem-where would we go?). And she
sped off towards the cock pit area.
Not
a minute later, the plane stopped moving. Several minutes later, the stewardess
returned. She informed me that the pilot has been in contact with the tower and
since no pets were allowed on this particular flight, that my dog would have to
be moved to the cargo area. Well, there
was no way I was going to let that happen. I firmly but politely refused to put
Lucas in cargo and off again went our frazzled stewardess to inform the pilot
of my refusal. As you can imagine, there were a lot of un-impressed passengers
around me who knew that my dog and I were the reason we were not in the air
yet.
Soon, the pilot came on the intercom
and apologized for the delay and informed the passengers that if anyone was
allergic to dogs or preferred not to be seated near one, they should inform the
stewardess and she would re-seat them. When no one spoke up, we finally began
to taxi towards take-off again and I was informed that “that dog” is to remain
in the closed carrier and under the seat in front of me for the duration of the
flight.
Once
in the air, the pilot came over the intercom again and told us all the normal
information that they give: how high we were flying and how we stayed lower
than most jets because our plane was smaller than others. He told us about the
weight of the cargo and passengers on the plane. And since the plane was small,
pets were not allowed in the passenger compartment. He went on to say with a
chuckle “but it seems that we have stow-away on our plane today”.
When we reached our destination, as
I was about to depart the plane, I was greeted by the pilot and co-pilot who
wanted to personally meet my little friend. So Lucas finally got to come out of
his carrier and say hi. When I held Lucas up so everyone could see him, my
fellow passengers clapped and said how cute he was and what a good dog he’d
been during the flight.The pilot happily suggested that I contact the airline before I fly with Lucas again. “Absolutely” I said. “I sure don’t want to go thru that again!” And off we went into the warm sunshine to enjoy a week with family and friends.
A
few days into my visit with my parents in sunny Florida, I realized that soon,
I would be headed home to New Hampshire without
a ticket for the dog!
I called the airline to inquire
about purchasing a ticket for my dog’s flight home. I was informed that the
flight I was scheduled on (the same as I flew down on) did not allow pets of
any kind in the passenger compartment. He would have to fly in the cargo area.
Again, I refused, there was no way I would do that to him. I asked about
switching my flight. “No problem” she said. She could get me out on the same
day, but there would be a $100 flight change charge as well as $50 for my dog’s
ticket. “Or” she told me, “You didn’t hear this from me. Why don’t you bring
him home the same way you got him here? Just don’t get caught this time”.
I
couldn’t believe it, but she was telling me to sneak Lucas back on a plane! I
thanked her for her help and said I would have to think about it. I really
didn’t want to have to spend an extra $150 to get home, so I decided to go for
it and sneak Lucas on the plane again.
When the day to go home finally
came, I was so nervous! Lucas’s carry bag was black with screened mesh sides. I
put a black t-shirt on him to try and hide him as much as possible. When I got to the airport and headed to my
gate, I had to pass thru a big set of doors with a huge “No dog’s allowed” sign
painted across the doors. Of course, now I was even more afraid that someone
would notice the dog in my bag and I was sure I looked guilty as hell.
I thought “oh my god, here we go
again!” That little girl a seated a few rows behind us must have seen Lucas in
his bag! I pushed his carrier a little further under the seat in front of me
and prayed he wouldn’t make a sound. To my relief, the dad told her there was
no dog. “Whew!”
When we landed in Manchester, and
we got off the plane, I finally let Lucas out of his carrier without caring who
saw him. We made it!
As I gave Luke a drink of water, I
heard the little girl’s voice again. “There he is Daddy, come on, I want to see
the doggie!” They approached us and the
dad asked if his daughter could say hi to my dog. As she pet Luke, I told him how I had
snuck the dog on the plane and I thought she was going to get us kicked off. He
said that they were on a connecting flight and their earlier flight did have a
dog on it so he thought she meant that one.
I never found out if she had seen my little stow-away dog or
not, but I can tell you that I purchased a ticket for him the next time we
visited my parents!
