I see that Pet Airways is now taking reservations for flying your pet around the country. They've also changed a couple things on their website since my last post about them:

• Their route map now spells "Los Angeles" correctly;
• they now say their fleet will consist entirely of Beechcraft 1900 aircraft, and not the formerly-claimed fleet of Boeing 727s, Convair 580s and 5800s, and Dassault Falcon 20s. Also absent from their fleet information page is the company's statement that it would operate flights under Part 121 and Part 135 of the Federal Air Regulations. The FAA's website still shows no operating certificate for Pet Airways, nor does it show one for Panther Air Cargo, Pet Airways' presumptive parent company or partner;
• They also no longer mention that they have a fleet of 20 planes. I wonder how many they do have -- they currently are taking reservations for East-to-West flights on Tuesdays and West-to-East flights on Thursdays, so they could be operating as few as one aircraft;
• They've removed Dan Wiesel's and Alysa Binder's last names from the photo caption on this page.

I also found this story and this one, which say that Pet Airways is contracting with "Suburban Airlines" and "Suburban Air Flight, Inc.", respectively. Google searches for "Suburban Air Flight" turn up nothing, and searches for "Suburban Airlines" pretty much bring you information about the former Allegheny Airlines subsidiary of the same name. (I also don't see an FAA certificate for Suburban,  either.)

Interestingly enough, I wonder if this news story's reporting came from my previous post. It doesn't credit me with anything, but it was published two days later, and has some details that I hadn't seen reported about Pet Airways anywhere until I published my post.

(Oh, and of course the Hotelicopter was an April Fool.)

UPDATE: I heard from Steve Huettel, the writer of the St. Petersburg Times story. He used some of my research as a jumping-off point, but had also been working some other angles of the story before I published. He's a good egg.

I also think it's very interesting that the Pet Airways site has been intermittently available since they said they were taking reservations. Apparently there's been a lot of buzz online -- but what I thought was interesting also was that when the site is up, the reservations page says they're overwhelmed and are only taking reservations by e-mail. (And when the site is down, they're apologizing "for the incontinence." Shouldn't they leave that to the pets?)

ANOTHER UPDATE: "Incontinence" now changed to "inconvenience." That was fast.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: It looks like their partner is Suburban Air Freight, not "Suburban Airlines" or "Suburban Air Flight." And they have an operating certificate -- not sure why it didn't come up at the FAA's site. They have Beech 1900s, too...so the pets may ride in something similar to this. 

I'm not thrilled that Pet Airways essentially accused me of spreading "false rumors" about them; as I noted, I explicitly said that I don't think it's a hoax. I'm also glad they finally answered my questions, however grudgingly.

Comments

[Eileen]

Why is there no refund policy listed on the web site? I never thought this business was a hoax but has lots about it that has an aspect of scam, all of this buzz on Best Friends, etc. and the whole point is to sell memberships, etc. If this airline is anything like "Companion Air" which was likely the owners last venture (although they changed the names) this is just a small plane that takes FOREVER to transport your pet across the country while a large commercial jet would be much less traumatic due to much time involved, plus Pet Airways is requiring an overnight etc. What I would like to have answered, has anyone made a reservation, it seems the web site will take your cash but before you hit the "pay" button there is no info about refund at all?

[Ayelet]

Did you hear Renee Montagne's interview with Alysa Binder on Morning Edition today? http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104038148

I thought of you (and your fascinating investigative research). Would love to see a Telescreen.org update of the new business enterprise whose clientele are referred to as "pawsengers."

[david albert]

I am reading this with great interest. I just had one of the worst experiences with a company and customer service that I have ever had.

Let me backtrack. I was excited to know of Pet Airways so I could fly my Greater Swiss Mountain Dog with me to CA from Chicago for a lengthy holiday visit int he former. In July, I went on-line to make a reservation--the page was screwy and sent a notice that the reservation did not go through. I called at least 15 times, with no response. So, I went back on-line--this time making a reservation for a GIANT kennel, just to be sure (measuring instructions were not clear on the page at that time, and since MOST dogs are measured at the withers, all this was unclear). My confirmation came back with "Extra large" I immediately emailed (about three times) and someone named Joel finally responded saying that he would check into a GIANT kennel--This ws JULY 30! I never heard back, so assumed it was ok.

Imagine my surprise when, on December 14, I received a letter from STEVE, and decided to call to make sure I had a GIANT. I did not. I called all over pet airways--noone would respond, noone. Joel was MIA. Finally--after two days of constant trying, someone called to tell me I had an extra large, but they would make it work. I took my dog to Petsmart trying to see if she would fit. NO WAY. I asked for a refund, since it was a PETS AIRWAYS error. They were extremely rude (although I will say that DENISE at Reservations tried hard to help). They told me I would get a credit and just could sell it on EBAY--just what I wanted--to spend more time!

This company is BUYER BEWARE. There were many more mistakes, and the lack of followthrough and attention to detail makes me wonder about other safety issues. Now, I must travel without my dog (there were over $1500 in extra expenses getting to and from the designated airports--driving to Chicago, hotel, driving from LA to SF, my final destination, hotels etc. etc.

BEWARE

[Rick]

Interesting topic. David, have you filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau? They have a total of 6 complaints, 4 are similar to yours.

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