First off,
you need to speak with your vet about this travel itinerary with a 14-week-old puppy. Find out what they reccomend.
I have travelled with our first yorkie to Scandanavia which takes about 26 hours of travel total (with 3-4 connections) to get to my father-in-law.
She was a few years old though when we first started. She went to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and more!
I am a flight attendant for a major airline.
What everyone needs to understand is that it is the FAA that requires all pets brought onboard in a carrier to remain zipped up in the bag for the entire flight. You must stow the carrier under the seat in front of you for take off and landing, but you can hold it on your lap or if the seat next to you is empty, put it there during the flight. But it is supposed to remain zipped up. Technically we shouldn't even put our hand in there. That is the deal you sign on for when you decide to air travel with your pet.
With that said,
I am not so strict with dogs. (Cats I am becasue we have had them loose and crawling over the airplane.It was so hard to catch them!) I see no evil and let my pax hold them under a blanket on their lap. But all my flying partners have to be ok with it too. And other passengers around you may object as well.
My other beef with the pets remaining zipped up is that it is fine for a short flight, but when you are travelling for quite some time, it is inhumane to not be able to unzip and comfort our pets.
As far as the nutrical going into an unlabeled container, that is not a big deal with the TSA. Only that it is in a container of 3oz. or less. All my toiletries go into little plastic bottles, unlabeled. For all they know it looks like hair gel.
You could squeeze the nutrical into a little plastic container or just put it in a ziplock baggie.
My vet recommended our dog licking ice chips to quench their thirst, but not put too much pressure on the bladder as a bowl of water would. We would feed very little during our travel time. But our girl sort of knew the drill and didn't even want to eat food when it was offered to her. But she was not as young as yours and that does concern me.
Technically, I believe when you are in the airport terminal, your pet is also supposed to be in its carrier. I do see them walking around on leashes, but if an airport employee says something to you about it, they are just doing their job and following the rules.
If there is an FAA agent onboard, they could fine $$$ the flight attendants for not enforcing ANY of the rules we are trained and tested on annually. And God forbid your pet is injured or injures another passenger, it is the flight attendant who will have to answer to the airlines legal department and bear the consequences.
Hope this sheds some light on your travel experience. |