Speaking of Dogs and Cats

[Kip Powick]

Airline passengers with pet allergies should not be forced to share cabin space with dogs and cats, says an editorial published Tuesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Last summer, Air Canada changed its policy to allow cats and small dogs to travel in the cabin, aligning itself with a WestJet policy.

"Surveys have shown that there's widespread public support for keeping pets off airplanes, in the cabins, and for those reasons we feel strongly that this is a public health issue that really needs to be addressed thoughtfully," said Dr. Matthew Stanbrook, a respirologist who co-wrote the editorial.

"Given the importance of air travel for Canadians and those who travel through Canadian airspace, we think that Air Canada needs to rethink its decision or be made to do so by government agencies." Does that mean it's OK for WestJet to keep animals in the cabin..sounds like decrimination........ or is this just more AC bashing cause they're the "big" boys>>>? (DKP)

The Canadian Transportation Agency has received several complaints about the furry four-legged travellers. Alexandre Robertson, a senior communications adviser, said three complaints involve Air Canada, and a fourth pertains to both Air Canada and WestJet.

"Members of the agency are examining those complaints, and we'll issue decisions as required," he said.

The CMAJ editorial argues that if the agency doesn't rule in favour of the passengers, then the House of Commons standing committee on health should take up the cause.

An allergic reaction can range from mild to life-threatening, said Stanbrook, who routinely sees patients with allergies at the Asthma and Airway Centre at the University Health Network in Toronto.

When someone has an anaphylactic reaction, breathing can be affected and emergency assistance is needed, he said.

"That's bad enough when it happens on ground level," he said. "If it happens in an airplane, far removed from any emergency measures and maybe hours away from landing, that could be very, very serious indeed, and possibly fatal."

Estimates suggest at least 10 per cent of people are allergic to pets, with cat allergies being most common, Stanbrook noted.

Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said the airline has had three complaints and isn't aware of any serious allergic reactions.

"I can tell you generally that we do not carry a lot of pets in the cabin. It is a negligible amount in the context of our traffic," he said in an email.

The airline typically carries between 80,000 and 100,000 passengers a day. As for pet passengers, Fitzpatrick said the breakdown between dogs and cats is about 60-40.

The editorial noted service animals, for instance those assisting blind passengers, travel on planes infrequently and are not an issue.

MedAire, an Arizona-based company that responds to airline health emergencies around the globe, said it had 22 cases involving animals in 2008 and 2009.

Airlines have medications and emergency kit supplies such as EpiPens, Albuterol, Benadryl and oxygen to help relieve any medical concern.

[Charlie's Flying Dog]

keep em out of the cabin

But cabins are so nice and warm and cozy! There's nothing like laying down in the cabin in front of a nice warm fire...

(Keep those damned cats out though!)

Would you really keep us out in the cold? ... with those lousy, rotten feline narcisits ....even if we promise to bring your slippers and keep your feet warm?

[Moon The Loon]

I'm allergic to authority. I DEMAND a seat on an aeroplane where nobody is in charge. 'Cept me.

Where oh where does the lunacy stop???

[dagger]

It's getting harder to decide who has a disability and who does not.

Only the CTA could come up with rulings like this:

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/February2010/25/c4837.html

[CD]

Dagger, why would you be surprised at anything the CTA does? After all it is the creation of many Liberal Governments and is acting with the powers granted by those Governments.

Well, depending on how you want to view history, it could be argued that the current Agency was more a creation of the Progress Conservative Party of Canada, as it was under their mandate that the accessible portfolio was created. Of course, that Party ceased to exist in 2003 so I guess there really isn't anyone to blame anymore...

After 20 years, the move to deregulation in Canada led to the creation of the National Transportation Agency on January 1, 1988. In 1992, the Agency was given additional powers to make federally-regulated transportation accessible for persons with disabilities.

Historical highlights of the Canadian Transportation Agency and its predecessors

[CD]

CD and I quote

And the Prime Minister and the party in power were both Liberals.

Thus my point and yours was????????????????

Only that when the NTA was created in 1988 and then provided with the power over accessibility issues (which are generally seprate from consumer protection issues), it was Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (you know, the Progressive Conservative one) in power at the time. Not that it really matters, I suppose...

[DEFCON]

Doesn't the air in a belly or floor level hold come through the same recirculation system as that of the cabin? Apparently, an individual that's disadvantaged by blindness has a trump card that's bigger than the guy that's allergic to dogs? What a farce!

[Lakelad]

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and arguing for the pro side of keeping cats in the cabin.....

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[Moon The Loon]

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and arguing for the pro side of keeping cats in the cabin.....

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It'd have to be a pretty big feline to take on a large rat. The wharf rats in Halifax used to eat cats as a snack!!