A First for Zico

Fer and I recently went for a quick weekend getaway to Miami, FL to visit his family, some of our friends and BE IN THE WARM WEATHER. On this trip we took Zico Biscuit with us for the first time on a plane. It was a big first for Zico riding in the plane, meeting his family and being in Miami playing on the beach. We had a great time of course and I will go into more details on the trip later, but first I wanted to discuss traveling with your pet.

Granted we have not taken Zico on to many road trips and never in a plane, so we are not experts at all yet.. :) but for anyone who is thinking twice about taking their pet on the plane with them because of all the horror stories you may have heard about the airline not accepting your carrier, at the last minute sticking your pet under the plane with the cargo or anything else you might have heard I say rest assured, it's easy peasy and it was a great experience. (at least it was for us)

On this trip we flew there and back on Air Tran, that was my first time flying with them and I was very pleased with the flight and the service. (if I say so myself) I had stressed for quite awhile about the carrier, would it be the right size would they accept it? Would they make us by theirs for $70?? Well to be honest I don't even think that they looked at the carrier when we were checking in. LOL (of course I know they did, but my point is there was no problem) Now we did pay attention to the rules they posted on their website regarding the size restrictions for the carrier and purchased a carrier at PetSmart according to those limitations.

I also requested from our Vet a "Certificate of Health Examination" so there would be no doubts that Zico has had all his shots and is a healthy little guy.

When you are planning to take a pet on board with you, you do have to "make a reservation" for that pet with the airline so after I booked our flight online I called the airline to book Zico on the same flight with us. The funny part of that was our flights down to MIA and back were $64 each way, Zico's was $69 each way LOL and then he was considered one of our carry-ons which then limited us to only one carry-on. Good thing it was only for three days. :) That's my only complaint to the airline... if you have to pay for your pet to fly with you why don't either you a.) still get to take a regular carry-on with you or b.) why doesn't Zico get to take a carry-on with him. LOL He is a paying customer.... But besides that I have no complaints.

On the flight down we were able to upgrade to First Class - YES! We'll take it. So that of course afforded us a lot more space during the flight down. Here's some pictures of Zico riding the friendly skies in his bright red carrier.

He's so cute, he never really fell asleep during the flight and you could tell he was aware of everything that was going on around him, but he wasn't scared or anxious. The Vet told me that it was a good idea to give him a half of a Children's benadryl to help him relax and maybe sleep during the flight. I think that was a good idea.
Here's another picture of Zico in his carrier and you can see how he's under the seat in front of use. In First Class it was no problem putting him under the seat, in coach I had to shove the carrier under the seat a bit, but he was fine there too.

Tomorrow I will post pictures of Mr. Zico hitting the sand in South Beach.