So the new UA is adopting the CO "PetSafe" program, it seems (no big surprise there, many here might think/say).
I see a lot of numbers fly around, but it's really unclear where the "$4000+" numbers come from. Does CO charge that today for animal cargo shipments?
Some articles I found:
http://overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com/_n...ravel-rule-set-to-give-soldiers-sticker-shock
http://www.stripes.com/shipping-pets-during-pcs-could-cost-nearly-4-000-under-new-rule-1.168509
http://www.usatoday.com/money/indus...-pets-not-in-cabin-to-fly-as-cargo/53122876/1
Choice quote:
"Everyone is talking about it and stressing out over the impending changes," says Jessica Simmons, a Marine pilot's wife based in Okinawa, Japan, in an e-mail.
Simmons says she was able to check the family's cocker spaniel, Zeke, for $130 when they moved to Japan in 2008. She's now told it will cost "a minimum of $1,400" to send him home as cargo. "I am fearful that those who cannot afford these new prices will leave their pets behind," she says. "If I'd known it wasn't going to cost the same … to get Zeke back to Texas, I would have left him with family."
United says the cost of shipping pets as cargo isn't significantly greater than for checking them. For instance, the cargo rate for an animal that weighs between 10 and 50 pounds coming to the U.S. from Micronesia would be $309. A smaller animal would cost $259, United spokeswoman Mary Ryan says.
The significant costs are for animals coming from Japan, where a law requires an extra fee be paid to a third-party handler, Ryan says. "There's some confusion," she says. "That's not a United-Continental cost. That's a government-mandated cost. Our pricing remains competitive."