Of all of the things that I was dealing with for this cross-country move, flying with my two cats was the thing that I was the most stressed about. It gave me ridiculous anxiety and I started planning 8+ months in advance. At the end of the day, the flights went very smoothly and the girls did SO WELL that I could cry. I was probably over-prepared, but what’s new?

Booking with the Airline

I fly primarily with Delta so I decided to go with Delta for my flights to San Francisco as well. I later learned that they’re one of the “stricter” or “more difficult” airlines when it comes to traveling with pets, but as I said earlier, our flying experience was great. I called Delta in January (yes, 7.5 months in advance) to find out what I needed to do. I learned that there are maximum pets allowed in each cabin and on the flights that I was looking at, the number was 2 (so literally just mine). You can only travel with one pet per passenger and the pet is considered your carry-on item for the low fee of $125 per pet (eye-roll). There are restrictions on the sizes of the carriers based on the under-seat dimensions and I had to confirm the carrier sizes when I made the booking (see below for some more details). Also, there are a lot of seats with a very tiny space under the seat in front of you, so the agent recommended that we take aisle seats because those have the largest space (which is still not very large).

Anxiety-ridden, I booked the flights immediately for myself and my sister who was going to help me fly the cats out. Once I booked the flight for the humans, I had to call Delta to book for the cats and provide the carrier measurements. I was a little nervous because I never received any sort of formal confirmation, but I called a few times to confirm over the next several months. Also, our airplanes were switched out as it got closer to the actual flight and our seats were moved around from those originally selected. I recommend confirming about a week out with the airline to ensure your carrier is still the right size and that your seats are good for the cats.

Carrier Research

I had already purchased two TSA approved small cat carriers, that ended up still being too large for the planes that we would be taking. It took me a while to do some research and find carriers with small enough dimensions, but I found these carrier backpacks that ended up being perfect. It measured approximately 11.5x9x16 inches (LxWxH) so we could slide them under the seat on the long side. My cats are medium-large sized (11 and 12 pounds) and it was a pretty snug fit, so I wouldn’t recommend for larger cats.

Final Vet Visits and Medication

In the weeks leading up to us leaving, I took both cats to the vet for a final check-up to make sure that everything was okay before flying. The vet also prescribed Gabapentin, which is a pain medication, but studies have proven that it significantly helps to reduce stress in pets (it did). We took the medicine the night before and the morning of and it definitely helped both girls to relax a lot!

TSA (EEK!)

My biggest concern was getting the cats through security at the airport. Luckily, Norfolk is a small airport so security is not normally too busy, but mid-pandemic, it was even emptier. I had heard that you couldn’t take the cats through security in their bags, so all I could think about was taking them out and then running off. I bought harnesses and leashes for both of them (which they absolutely hated – see video proof below) to wear in case we had to come out of the bag. I had this image of me pulling two cats across the floor through the machines via harness and was less than thrilled about how it could go. Fortunately, the TSA agents were very nice and helpful and let us do a private screening. They took us to a room to take the cats out of the bag (where we had a closed-door) and then took the bags to run through the machines sans cats. The harnesses weren’t ultimately needed, but better safe than sorry!

Travel Experience

With the girls on their medication, I was probably the most stressed out of everyone. We checked in with Delta and I had to bring the cats in for the agent to see each of them and confirm the carriers were the appropriate size. Once we were on the plane, we got the carriers settled under the seats and tried to cover them with the blanket. Olivia actually didn’t like being covered up and kept moving around to try to peek out and see where her sister was (awwww) so I kept her uncovered for most of the trip. The first flight was shorter at an hour and a half and they both seemed the be pretty on edge for most of it. They did get to sit side by side, but neither could settle in and they kept moving around.

For the second flight, which was about 5 hours, they did finally lay down and rest a bit. Olivia brought her cat toys up to where she was laying and kept them by her face, but she stayed in this position for much of the flight, like she was bracing herself for impact!

When we got up to get off the second flight, my seatmate exclaimed that he had no idea there was a cat in our row, so I’ll leave that as a testament of how good they behaved! All in all, there were very few cries, a little anxiety, and two kitties who rode in their first (and hopefully last) airplane.

Cat Packing List

So all in, I bought a lot to prepare for this travel and didn’t need very much of it. I don’t regret one purchase at all though! So what was in the cats’ carry-on bag?

• TSA approved Carrier backpack or larger carrier (if dimensions are okay)
• Travel litter pan with litter – we didn’t ultimately need, but on a longer trip, you may want to have or keep on hand just in case
• Travel bowls with food and treats (the carriers each came with a bowl which was great!) – my two didn’t eat or drink much during the trip, but I’d rather have on hand than now
• Cat toys – I put a toy or two in each carrier so they had something else familiar
• Harness and leash set – as mentioned before, we also didn’t need these. See below for a video of unhappy Chloe trying on her harness at home LOLZ
• Feliway Cat Calming Pheromone Spray – highly recommended as secondary assistance to the medication
• Baby blankets – I bought a baby blanket for each cat and let them sleep on them for the several months leading up to the trip. Then I had the blankets that I could put in the carriers or over if needed to block out light and some sound that were familiar to them. This was probably the best purchase I made!

Good luck with all of your travel with kitties and I hope this post helps!

Bonus video content