Want to fly with your dog? Qantas announced this week that it will make changes to its live animal policy that will allow the carriage of American Staffordshire Terriers and certain other previously banned breeds on all its international and domestic flights.
The previous ban, made last year, had dog lovers perplexed at why their beloved pooches couldn't fly with them, despite dangerous animals such as crocodiles being allowed on board. But transporting dogs by air in Australia has never been easy.
Unhappy staffie supporters around Australia stormed the Qantas Facebook page and threatened to boycott the airline, calling the policy "discriminatory". The breed isn't subject to any restrictions in Australia.
A Qantas spokesperson said the prior ban had been made following cases where staffies had destroyed their cages, and caused damage to a plane. It had explained the ban by saying "certain breeds are not permitted to travel on Qantas flights as they are traditionally known to be aggressive or highly agitated animals".
However, after a successful trial and many requests from dog owners, the airline has decided to lift the restriction.
A Qantas spokesperson said: "We know that there are many American Staffordshire owners in Australia who love the breed. These new guidelines help meet their needs in terms of being able to transport their pets and our needs in terms of safety."
The staffies must be transported in an airline-approved guard dog cage or a CR-82 wire mesh reinforced cage, which is designed to prevent the dog from breaking out and thus avoiding damage to the aircraft, or the dog itself and bookings must be made via a transport agency specialising in dog air transport Australia .
More snub-nose dog breeds are now also permitted on international Qantas flights following a trial by the airline, but the owners will need to sign an indemnity form acknowledging the breathing risks these breeds have on planes including British bulldogs, Pugs and Pekingese. These difficult to transport by air breeds were previously only allowed to fly on domestic routes.
Qantas said it had received constant calls from passenger wanting to bring the animals on-board.
"Changes to the policy will allow more breeds of dogs and cats safe travel on Qantas."
"Snub-nose breeds of dogs are very popular pets and we receive many requests for transport, including on long flights."
"We obviously want all pets to arrive safe and sound and so with snub-nosed pets we strongly recommend using a cage that is twice the minimum required size to make sure there is plenty of air circulation."
For more information, visit the Qantas Dogs policy here.
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