I recently traveled to Cleveland Ohio due to a family emergency. While there, my family begged me to adopt the family pet as they could no longer care for him. My sister offerred to pay to transport him. To make sure there would be no problems, I called the airline, twice, to ask about special rules when traveling with pets and told them the pet was a guinea pig and did they have special rules about guine pigs? Both people told me that I could take him on the plane with me as long as he was in a carrier and it would fit completely under the seat in front of me, and it would cost $80. I also had to have a certificate from a vet certifying his health, which I obtained before I left.
I had traveled with another guinea pig before without problems, so I had no reason to disbelieve them.
I show up at the airport, pet in tow, and am told that a guinea pig is not "on the list" and I cannot put him in the cabin. Apparently they have this list which includes such odd things as parakeets and hamsters, but not guinea pigs. So I am very upset at this point, because they have to put him with the luggage and I'm worried about the little guy. Then they tell me the carrier is no good, even though I had used a similar kennel to transport a guinea pig on a airplane before. I have to purchase on of THEIR carriers. They did not have any in the small size, after looking around for almost 45 minutes they found a larger (small dog) size, which they sold to me for $125.00. I then had to buy a separate ticket FOR THE GUINE PIG, at this point it is getting ridiculous. The ticket was $120. So I spent $250 where other people with kittens and parakeets can get away with paying $80 and take the critters on the plane with them. Plus I was terrified for the little guy.
To their credit they did enforce their rule where they have to verify temperatures at the destination do not exceed certain hot or cold thresholds, and they do give you a receipt so you can make sure the pet makes it on the plane under you. The pig made it okay to Los Angeles, but I was so worried I couldn't relax for the whole flight. When I got back, I wrote a letter to customer affairs asking to be refunded the $250 cost I had incurred because of their misinformation regarding travel requirements with these kinds of pets, but I got a form letter basically telling me to screw myself.
For anybody traveling with so-called "exotic" pets (as if a guinea pig is exotic) BEWARE - the flight attendant leaned over and whispered to me to next time pretend it's a puppy or a rabbit or some other "approved" animal because they really thought he was a puppy anyway!
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