Hi we have long scheduled travel from Houston to CA for one week when our new puppy will be 14-15 weeks. Does anyone know if she will be ok for in cabin under seat on first class on United A320? Will she be too big. We know about all of the other issues related to air travel just not if she will be appropriate in size. Also if she will fit does anyone suggest a good collapsible carrier?

That's a good question.
Are you picking it up from the breeder at that time? If so I would ask them.
I think my pup may have been to big by that age.

Actually I am heading on a vacation. I just heard back from the breeder and they said she would be ok to travel that way. Thanks for the post. Thank you very much for responding. My only other real option is to leave the puppy with the Breeder until about 16 weeks and that will be expensive and we will be missing a lot of puppy love time.

I can only give you my experience with a 9-week old pup on a one-way from Chicago to NY to pickup our V from the breeder.

I believe most airlines allow for pet travel as long as it fits under the seat and is in "an airline approved carrier", which I purchased in Amazon for $20. There's obviously dimension requirements, I simply forget what they are for under the seat airline approved carriers.

We flew Southwest (which is more pet friendly than some airlines in fees, etc) and contacted them via phone support to inform them that we will be traveling with a pet/puppy. It was simply to have them note my ticket, probably overkill but did it anyways. At the time of arrival at the airport we purchased a boarding pass of our V which was $90 I believe and off we went. Pretty straightforward, but DEFINITELY contact United and discuss your plans because I am sure every airline is slightly different.

To that end, I think your only issue you may face is will a 14-15 week old V and 16+ weeks once you return from vacation to fit in an airline approved carrier. That may be tricky. My 9-month old fit and seemed to fit comfortably. Luckily TX to CA is not a terribly long flight so you have that in your favor.

Some small pieces of advice that was given to me, and many are obvious but bears repeating. Do not feed the pup the morning of the flight. Show up to the airport early, we hit a little snafu when we arrived to Southwest and took about 20-minutes to sort out due to the puppy (long story not worth sharing). We walked our V for a short time before actually entering the airport so he could eliminate and get tired. We put a nice adsorbent towel on the bottom of the carrier for obvious reasons. And the one thing I was told, and it held true, is once you're in your seat and the pup feels and hears the vibration of the plane they due tend to go to sleep especially once you take off. Our V literally slept the entire time and did not hear a peep from him from the time we boarded the plane to the time we got off....maybe we were just lucky but our airline experience with was very positive for us and our V. And I am definitely glad we made the decision to fly out to IL to personally pick him up and fly back. Well worth the trouble and small overall expense so he would not have to deal with other means of airline transportation under the plane and picking him up at the airport....fwiw.

I hope this help and please let me know if I can answer any other questions. And like I said, your biggest challenge right now is his size and ability to fit in the carrier. All other concerns can be sorted out IMO.

All the best with your new V.

Thanks so very much for the thoughtful reply. Just to be clear she will be 14 weeks when we leave for CA and 15 weeks when we return. At this point I'm leaning towards leaving her with the breeder until we return but that means an extra three weeks expense and missing out on some great puppy bonding time. If I hold to this I will need to figure out if when I pick her up I will be able to fly her from Indiana to Houston at 15+ weeks or rent a car and drive for two days. So the air travel issue is still in play.

You sound very undecided about your plans... Don't forget... you need to make a reservation for your pet/ (or list it) Pets in the cabin... just like in cargo...( which is I'm sure is banned this time of year because of the heat) are limited. Only a few animals per cabin space are allowed , mainly because of people with allergies. Their are a lot more pets in cabin now with all of the support animals. I bet you and your pup would be a lot happier in a car, with the option to stop often and run around. ( just MO)

Have an Awesome Vacation...

How old will your pup be when you pick it up from the breeder? Have you considered picking her up at the normal scheduled time and then just having the breeder watch her for a week while you're on vacation? Or someone else you know could watch her. I would think my 14 week old Vizsla would have been too big to fit under the seat of an airplane.