One month ago, I stumbled across a tiktok of someone doing something called “flight nannying”. Essentially, bringing puppies or kittens in a carrier from a breeder to their new family. As those who know me know, I already do several Rountrip flights a year just to keep my status on Alaska Airlines known as “mileage runs” so wait, I thought, I can fly puppies and kittens, get my flights paid for AND earn miles and a little extra cash for my time?? That’s a win -win if I ever saw one.
I made it a goal: get one of these flight nannying gigs within the next month. And so I did. After joining a Facebook group, speaking with an experienced flight nanny, she was kind enough to refer me some of her Seattle based leads. A month later, I answered the call and found myself on a flight to chicago to pickup two persian kittens.
The flight was a tight turnaround. Unfamiliar with how pet ticket policies work, I had to make a pet reservation for the return flight (on the same plane that was incoming) but the airline told me I had to go to the counter and pay the pet ticket in Chicago, no option to pay over the phone for a quick in and out of security. Long story short, I met the prbreeder, picked up the two kittens, get to the ticket counter and no one was there. Without a ticket, I couldn’t enter security. And when someone finally showed to the counter, my flight was already pushing out from the gate.
So here I was stuck in chicago, I’m a petsitter so I had dogs at home, who my partner was (reluctantly) willing to care for. And they weren’t going to pay for a hotel.
But I realized something – Starting anything for the first time is going to be difficult, its going to be stressful. That’s part of entrepreneurship and growing as a human being. But believe my I felt my stress levels peaking high. The next flight out wasn’t until the next morning, but the gate agent told me the next confirmed flight I could get on wasn’t for two days. I’m fortunate not to have had to fly standby much, so I wasn’t exactly sure what it would look like – could I make the next flight in the morning?
Walking to the Ohare Hilton, I asked for a room, took a shower and was prepared to face the unexpected. I was finally able to get a confirmed flight for the next morning (thank you CS agent) and get a few hours sleep with the kittens next to me.
The next morning I set my alarm, made it to the gate, attempted to make a pet reservation and the agent told me it wasn’t letting her. With the flight already boarding, she directed me to go to security and see if they could help me reserve a pet there. I’d tried to follow the rules as much as possible, but at this point, I figured asking forgiveness and getting home was better than asking permission and being stranded, so I boarded the flight with my stowaway kittens, nervous as a drug dealer crossing the US/ Mexico border.
“Got a critter with you?” The man seated next to me in the aisle asked curiosly. “Yes” I replied nervously, hoping he wouldn’t bring more attention to the two furry stowaways under the seat in front of me.
Leave a Reply