More Letters From WestJet & Air Canada


It's that time of year again, we we're all flying home or to visit relatives at Christmas time. According to various research and marketing companies, flying with your pets is a growing trend. More and more Canadians and Americans are loathe to leave behind their furry family members when they go to visit family or escape on vacation, and ferret owners are no exception.

Unfortunately, WestJet and Air Canada still refuse to update their pet policies to include ferrets on board their flights as they do other pets. I have been told all sorts of things by now - that ferrets are apparently rodents, that they can chew out of dense fabric carriers and hard plastic crates, that they can chew through aluminium plating and ground their aircrafts, that they aren't legal for transport, and the list goes on.

To be fair, most of those answers were simply made up on the spot by employees who have no idea what they are talking about, so it's unfair to paint the policy makers in the same light as them - though it certainly is tempting when they fail to provide their own answers.

In an attempt to further the cause of being able to fly with our fur kids, just like many pet owners already do, I wrote new letters to both WestJet and AirCanada. I explained to both companies that ferrets are generally very friendly, they don't smell and that their excrement smells far less then that of a cat or dog's leavings. I mentioned that because of a ferret's compact size, specialty soft sided carriers are even made for them when incorporate litter boxes to absorb any odour. I explained that ferrets naturally sleep 18hours a day, and so they would likely sleep through their flights. I went further to point out that even if a ferret didn't sleep through the flight, they are generally very quiet pets that do not bark, hiss, meow, whine, growl, chirp, squeak, squawk, shriek, or thump like certain other animals they DO allow in their cabins.

I was very hopeful that they'd take my request seriously, but judging by the answers I got, I have my doubts. Without further ado, here are their responses, and we'll start with WestJet.

Thank you for contacting WestJet’s President and CEO, Gregg Saretsky. Gregg has read your letter and has asked me to respond to you on his behalf.

I appreciate your position and the reasons that you believe we should accept ferrets for carriage on our flights and, from what I’ve seen in your past correspondence with us, I know that you are aware of our position as well. Based on my personal experience with a ferret, I understand that they are generally pleasant animals and can be quite enjoyable to have as a pet; I have friends that got a ferret several years ago and I have had the opportunity to care for him when they travel. As a pet owner myself, I understand your desire to travel with your pet and I am sorry that you have been unable to do so. While we understand that you have outlined many reasons you feel we should accept ferrets for travel, WestJet has not changed our position on this matter and therefore cannot accommodate your request.

I will be sure to share your letter with the appropriate departments for their consideration in the event that they are contemplating changes to this policy in future. Thank you again for contacting us; I hope that we will be able to welcome you on board with us in the future.
Kindest regards,

Charmane

So essentially, I received a reply to placate me - a seemingly sympathetic voice who "likes ferrets" but they can't do anything to help me - I'm sure they're SO upset by this. I'm then assured that the letter will be shared with the "appropriate departments" but will not be receiving any confirmation from them that they have seen the letter. They also mentioned that their CEO read the letter, but couldn't be bothered to solicit even a signature from him to confirm this? Very dissapointing.


And now for Air Canada:

Thank you for your letter addressed to Mr. Rovinescu. It is my pleasure to respond on behalf of Air Canada. Our pet policy allows household pets on board and is limited to cats and dogs and we sincerely regret that this is disappointing for you. Customer feedback is very important to us and we assure you that a copy of your letter and your comments regarding our accepting ferrets on board has been documented for internal review by our Marketing Management Team. Your suggestions and recommendations will be given full consideration in our ongoing product review and development efforts. Thank you once again for taking the time to contact our office. We value your support Miss Schafli and we hope that we will have a future opportunity to meet your travel needs more favourably. It will be our privilege to welcome you on board. Sincerely, Richard York

Another placating letter. At least they mentioned which department would be reviewing the letter. Well my dilemma was not solved, I had hoped for the possibility that an executive with decision-making power to skim my letter, have an "aha" moment occur where they realize excluding ferrets is stupid, and simply type them in as an accepted pet on their websites. I sent another letter to Air Canada, asking for a timeline of when the letter would be reviewed by the "Marketing Management Team" and if I could potentially book my ferret on my flight with them, as I needed to decide which airline I would fly with this christmas. Here is the second response:

Thank you for your reply.
We have not been notified of any future changes to our current pet policy. That said, Air Canada regularly updates their news under the "What's New" link which can be found at the following:
http://www.aircanada.com/en/news/index.html
Thank you for contacting us, we hope we will have the opportunity to welcome you onboard in the near future.Kind Regards,MaryAnn Huggett

Barely an adequate response to the letter that I sent to them. Now the problem I have, is that no letters I have sent to either company over the past few years has ever seemed to make it through the wall of customer service agents. So, while I would certainly like to start a petition to send to both companies that allowing ferrets on board is something that their customers want, I don't want to put in the effort only to receive another placating letter and have the issue thrown out by a customer service rep who couldn't care less.


As always, if you feel that ferrets should be allowed on board, fill out the customer feedback forms on both WestJet and AirCanada's websites and post on their Facebook walls and let them know you want ferrets to fly like cats and dogs.