Airlines That Allow Pets to Fly to the United States

Not every airline will fly your dog or cat into the United States — and the ones that do rarely handle it the same way. Some airlines let small pets ride in the cabin with you. Others only accept pets as checked baggage or as freight through a separate cargo division. A few — including at least one major flag carrier — won’t carry a non-service pet at all, under any circumstances.

This guide compares the actual policies of the airlines most commonly used on international routes into the US: what each one accepts, what it costs where a fee is published, and where an airline’s own rule (not a government requirement) is the real obstacle to your move.

Airline pet policies change often and vary by exact route, aircraft, and even seat class — more often than government import rules do. American Airlines, Delta, United, Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, Emirates, and Qatar Airways all now have their own dedicated, independently-verified guide on this site (linked in each section below); other airlines’ figures are carried over from this site’s own prior, airline-verified route research rather than freshly re-checked today, and individual sections note when a finding is dated, reused, or still unconfirmed. Always confirm your airline’s current pet policy directly before booking, and check the CDC and USDA APHIS requirements that apply regardless of which airline you fly — see our CDC Dog Import Requirements guide and your country-specific route guide for those.

Before You Start

• Know your pet’s combined weight (pet + carrier). This single number determines whether you’re even looking at cabin, checked-baggage, or cargo pricing — most cabin limits sit around 8kg/18lbs, and the difference in cost between cabin and cargo can be enormous.
• Check whether your specific route is eligible for cabin travel at all. Several major US carriers restrict cabin pets to a specific list of countries/regions — being outside that list is extremely common on longer international routes, not an edge case.
• Don’t assume a codeshare or connecting segment follows the same pet policy as your booking airline. A flight number can be marketed by one airline but operated by another, with a completely different pet policy — always check who’s actually operating each leg.
• If your breed is brachycephalic (snub-nosed) — bulldogs, pugs, boxers, Persian cats, and similar — check that airline’s specific breed policy before doing anything else. Restrictions here are common enough that they, not government rules, are often the actual reason a booking falls through.

The “Big Three” US Legacy Carriers

American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines are the airlines most US-bound travelers check first — but each restricts general-public pet transport more than many travelers expect.

American Airlines — Carry-on (cabin): small cats/dogs, $150 per kennel each way, available only within/between the US, Canada, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Checked pet (ticket counter): restricted to active-duty US military and US State Department Foreign Service personnel on official orders — not available to the general public. Fee $200 per kennel ($150 to/from Brazil specifically). For everyone else, the option is American PetEmbark®, a cargo service through American Airlines Cargo — no fee is published; it’s quoted at booking. Because most international origin countries fall outside American’s cabin-eligible region list, and its checked-pet program is military/State-Department only everywhere, American Airlines frequently has no viable general-public option at all for a given international route — this has come up independently on this site’s Colombia, Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Argentina, Brazil, and Japan route guides. See our full American Airlines Pet Policy guide for the complete picture.

Delta Air Lines — Cabin: $150 each way (US/Canada/Puerto Rico/US Virgin Islands, tickets issued on/after April 8, 2025); $200 each way for international travel. Delta does not accept pet travel originating in Brazil, Colombia, or the Dominican Republic, per its own stated policy, and has separately stated a temporary pet-travel embargo affecting Egypt. Cargo is reported as restricted to active-duty military/State Department personnel, though this project could not independently confirm that on Delta’s own cargo-specific page. See our full Delta Air Lines Pet Policy guide for the complete picture.

United Airlines — Cabin: cats and dogs only, $150 each way, with no weight or breed limit published on United’s own site (a widely-repeated “20 lb limit” claim doesn’t appear there). Minimum age is 2 months domestic, 6 months (dogs) or 4 months (kittens) international. PetSafe, United’s cargo program, is confirmed closed to the general public directly from United’s own current page (“We no longer let you check your pets through the PetSafe program”) — the only exception is a narrow military-PCS/State-Department exemption. See our full United Airlines Pet Policy guide for the complete destination-restriction list and CDC requirements.

Other US Carriers

JetBlue (JetPaws) — cabin only, small dogs/cats, $150 each way, pet + carrier count as your one personal item. On international routes, JetBlue’s own policy notes eligibility “varies by origin, destination, date of booking and date of travel” — confirm your specific route is eligible before booking.

Southwest Airlines — cabin only, $125 per carrier each way, no cargo or checked-pet option at all. Only a small number of pet spaces exist per flight — book early.

Alaska Airlines — not yet covered by this project’s research. Confirm directly with Alaska if you’re considering this carrier.

Flying from Canada

Air Canada publishes real fees rather than “quote at booking,” which is unusual among the airlines in this guide.

• Cabin: soft-sided carrier required (as of June 1, 2025), CA/US $50–$60 one-way.
• Cargo hold: pet + kennel up to 45kg / 292cm linear dimensions, CA/US $105–$120.75 one-way — but only on flights Air Canada actually operates itself, not codeshares.
• Snub-nosed breeds are not accepted in the cargo hold.
• Flights to/from Hawaii don’t accept pets in cabin or hold at all; Air Canada Cargo must be contacted separately.

European Airlines

Most major European carriers offer both a cabin option for small pets and a cargo/hold option for larger ones — a real cross-Atlantic option most US-based carriers don’t match, though at a cost.

Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, and Brussels Airlines (all Lufthansa Group) share a recurring EUR ~150 / USD ~170 hub-transfer surcharge if your pet connects through Frankfurt, Brussels, Geneva, Vienna, or Zurich. Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines specifically also restrict new dog bookings to a specific list of currently accepted US cities (Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, New York-JFK, Philadelphia, with a conditional Newark reinstatement) — this restricted-city list was not found on Lufthansa’s own site. That restricted-city list is the airline’s own operational choice — not a CDC or US government rule — so don’t assume your entry airport is government-restricted just because your airline currently limits where it’ll fly a pet.

• Lufthansa: cabin ≤8kg combined; cargo-hold pets (also bookable directly, not restricted to military/government) don’t have a published flat fee — pricing runs through Lufthansa’s own fare calculator. Cargo-hold pets can’t connect through Munich at all (through-checking isn’t possible there), though direct flights to/from Munich and Frankfurt connections both work. Brachycephalic breeds have been banned from the cargo hold since January 1, 2020, confirmed directly on Lufthansa’s own site. See our full Lufthansa Pet Policy guide for fees, breed rules, and CDC requirements.
• Austrian Airlines: cabin ≤8kg; no published fee at all (bookings route to a contact form).
• Brussels Airlines: cabin <8kg, confirmed EUR 115 / USD 135 to the US East Coast.
• Condor (Frankfurt leisure carrier): cargo-hold only, direct flights only, 48-hour advance registration required.
• KLM: cabin ≤8kg, $200–$250 each way depending on route; hold up to 75kg, $400–$500. A transfer of 3+ hours rules out hold travel entirely (the pet must be picked up and re-checked, not automatically connected) — this project could not confirm a KLM “Animal Hotel” transfer service on KLM’s own site, so don’t rely on that as a workaround. True cargo requires a forwarding agent with IATA LAR credentials, not a standard booking. See our full KLM Pet Policy guide, including KLM’s two different breed-restriction lists for hold vs. cargo.
• Air France: cabin weight limit is unclear from Air France’s own materials — its cabin checklist states 8kg combined (pet + carrier), while its US fee page states 6kg for the pet alone; confirm directly before booking. Its published US fee range is $70–$400 covering both cabin and hold. Hold travel goes up to 75kg. French law bans “Category 1” dogs from international travel entirely, and brachycephalic breeds are restricted from the hold. See our full Air France Pet Policy guide for the complete picture.
• Bulgaria Air: cabin ≤8kg (€80–€90); hold €110–€190 depending on weight tier. Extensive brachycephalic and “fighting breed” exclusion list for the hold. Not available to/from London Heathrow.
• British Airways / Aer Lingus: cargo-only — no cabin or checked-baggage pet option was found on any transatlantic route for either carrier. No published fee; a quote is required.
• Virgin Atlantic: pet cargo remains suspended, re-confirmed directly today against the airline’s own cargo booking page, which states “our pet product is currently unavailable.”

Middle East Airlines

Most Middle East carriers researched for this site don’t permit pets in the passenger cabin on a US-bound flight (aside from service animals) — pet travel is checked baggage or manifest cargo. Turkish Airlines is the exception, with a cabin option for smaller pets.

• Emirates: no cabin option for ordinary pets at all (only falcons and qualifying service dogs). Checked baggage: $500 (≤23kg combined), $650 (24–32kg), $800 (32kg+) — but whether checked baggage or SkyCargo applies depends on the direction of your trip relative to Dubai, not just your pet’s size: itineraries ending in Dubai must use cargo regardless of size. Emirates publishes an unusually detailed brachycephalic list — 27 dog breeds and 9 cat breeds — barred from SkyCargo except during a Nov–Apr winter exception. See our full Emirates Pet Policy guide for the complete breed list and fee table.
• Etihad Cargo: manifest cargo only. No published fee. A CDC Dog Import Form is required for cargo shipments to the US.
• Qatar Airways: no cabin option for ordinary pets (only falcons and qualifying service dogs). Most pets travel as checked baggage (AVIH): $200–$350 (up to 32kg) or $300–$450 (32–75kg). Cargo becomes mandatory for oversized or unaccompanied pets, Australia/New Zealand routes, or any itinerary connecting to another airline. Confirmed breed restrictions: Pugs, Bulldogs, Boxers, and Boston Terriers (dogs), Exotic and Persian (cats). See our full Qatar Airways Pet Policy guide for the complete picture.
• Turkish Airlines: cabin if pet + carrier ≤8kg; cargo hold above that; fee calculated via an online Pet Fee Calculator rather than a flat rate.

Asia-Pacific Airlines

• Singapore Airlines: no cabin option. Checked baggage up to 32kg combined (most cats and small-to-medium dogs); above that, a cargo agent is required. Book at least 14 days ahead. Does not accept pets on flights to/from Houston — if you’re moving to Texas, you’ll need an alternate gateway airport like Dallas/Fort Worth. Extensive brachycephalic breed exclusion list.
• ANA (All Nippon Airways): cargo hold only, roughly $400 per crate on Japan–US routes. Brachycephalic breeds not accepted May 1–October 31 (seasonal, not year-round).
• JAL (Japan Airlines): cargo only. French and English Bulldogs are never accepted, year-round — stricter than ANA’s seasonal rule. Other snub-nosed breeds restricted seasonally.
• Qantas Freight: cargo only, must be booked through a licensed pet travel specialist — no direct self-service booking. Seasonal embargoes have applied to specific US airports; confirm current status per destination.
• Air New Zealand and Cathay Pacific: mentioned as possible connecting options on some routes, but this project could not independently confirm either airline’s pet-cargo policy — confirm directly.

African Airlines

• Kenya Airways: does not accept pets as checked baggage or in the cabin at all. Every non-service pet must ship as freight through KQ Cargo — there’s no accompanied-baggage option whatsoever. Only trained service dogs are an exception.
• Air Mauritius: no cabin option under any circumstances; checked baggage or cargo only, priced at booking. There are no direct Mauritius–US flights — every itinerary connects through a third country, and this project could not independently verify the connecting carrier’s own pet policy for that leg.
• Royal Air Maroc: both cabin (≤8kg, roughly €120 for Africa/North America/Middle East routes) and hold (up to 70kg) available. Extensive snub-nosed breed ban. Doesn’t accept pets at all — cabin or hold — on flights to the UAE or to/from the UK, an airline-specific restriction separate from any government rule.
• South African Airways: no cabin option; cargo via SAA Cargo only, priced by crate/weight/distance.
• EgyptAir: cabin ≤8kg combined (max crate 55×40×20cm); larger pets to the hold under stated conditions. No fee figure available.

Latin American Airlines

• Copa Airlines (via its Panama City hub): cabin only, pet + container ≤10kg, $125 international cabin fee. Larger pets go through “Copa Pets” cargo, no published fee.
• Aerolíneas Argentinas: both cabin (≤9kg, quoted at booking) and cargo (6-month minimum age for US entry, requires a licensed customs broker) available.
• Avianca: this project could not independently verify Avianca’s pet policy from the airline’s own site — secondary sources describe cabin under 10kg and cargo up to 70kg, but confirm directly before relying on any specific figure.
• LATAM Airlines: the dominant direct carrier on several South American–US routes, but its official site has been unreachable from this project’s research tools on every attempt — confirm LATAM’s current pet policy, fees, and any route-specific restrictions directly with the airline rather than relying on third-party summaries.

Why So Many Airlines Ban Brachycephalic (Snub-Nosed) Breeds

If you’re moving a bulldog, pug, boxer, Persian cat, or a similar flat-faced breed, breed restrictions — not government rules — are often the real obstacle. This is an airline safety decision about respiratory risk in a pressurized, temperature-variable cargo hold, not a CDC or USDA requirement.

• Year-round bans (no exceptions found): Emirates (aside from a narrow winter window), JAL for French/English Bulldogs specifically, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Bulgaria Air, Royal Air Maroc, Singapore Airlines.
• Seasonal bans only: ANA (May–October), Emirates’ general exception window (November–April).
• Hold-only restrictions: some airlines (Austrian, Brussels) restrict these breeds from the cargo hold specifically but may still allow them in the cabin if they otherwise qualify by weight.

Always check your specific airline and breed combination directly — this is one of the most common reasons a pet booking falls through after everything else has been arranged.

Temperature Embargoes: When Airlines Won’t Fly Your Pet

Many airlines refuse pet cargo or checked transport above a heat threshold — most commonly 85°F/29.4°C — at any airport on the itinerary, not just your departure or arrival city. This has been confirmed directly for American Airlines and ANA, and shows up as a general industry pattern elsewhere. Some airlines apply broader seasonal embargoes tied to specific airports or times of year (Qantas has done this for specific US cities; Emirates’ brachycephalic exception window works similarly). Build this into your planning if you’re moving during summer — a booking can be bumped with little notice if a connecting airport is too hot on travel day.

How to Choose the Right Airline for Your Move

1. Start with your pet’s combined weight. This alone often determines whether cabin travel is even possible.
2. Check whether your route is on that airline’s cabin-eligible list — many carriers restrict cabin travel to a specific set of countries or regions, and being outside that list is common, not unusual.
3. If cabin isn’t an option, find out whether the airline offers a genuine general-public cargo/checked option, or whether it’s restricted to military/State Department personnel (a surprisingly common restriction on major US carriers).
4. Check every leg of a connecting itinerary separately — a codeshare segment follows its operating airline’s policy, not the one on your ticket.
5. Confirm breed and temperature restrictions last, since these can override an otherwise-workable booking.

Related Guides

• How Much Does International Pet Relocation Cost?
• Bringing a Dog to the United States
• Bringing a Cat to the United States
• CDC Dog Import Requirements
• Check your country-specific route guide for the export requirements that apply on top of your airline’s own policy.