I recently took an extended trip on Alaska Airlines and had to pay my first outrageous fee. It was not for an 99 lb overweight bag, nor was it for any other increasing number of "a la carte" airline "perk" fees. It was to fly with my pet - who is more like a daughter to me than a dog. The interesting thing about it was that the fee to fly my little girl - was more than my own ticket! The cost of my ticket (with taxes) came to $190 and the cost of her pet fees: $200 ($100 each way). How can the airlines justify the price of a pet fee being more than my own ticket I wondered - and that's what I am hoping to find out. I have cleaverly copy and pasted my email to the airline and will keep you updated on their response.

"Hello. I wanted to leave a comment about my most recent Alaska Airlines trip. Recently my partner had an amazing opportunity to perform in SMF for a little over 3 weeks - I ended up joining him down there for most of the time with our puppy. This is the first time we needed to take our 7 lb "cavapom" with us on a flight. Due to the length of the trip (we could not go that long without being around her) she had to be there.

Everything was pretty great as always - we have been traveling with Alaska Air frequently and it's always a great experience. The reason for my writing is the fee to travel with a pet seems to be pretty exorbitant. I understand completely that fees are required and that they help you recover some of the money due to the slim margins of air travel - I really do get it - but to us Ali (thats her name) is a part of our family. She is like our child, and if you are not a dog person (or have actual children) you likely would not understand, but I mean that honestly and truthfully. To get down to it we felt the high fee to travel with our puppy was unwarranted and really left us with a bad taste in our mouth. We, of course, had to pay the fee as there was no other way around it.

It is similar, but understandably not exactly like, a mother would want her baby with her - we wanted our Ali with us. Part of our situation, for perspective, is that someone can lug a heavy (50 lb or so) carry-on - or a mother can "lap" her infant on the plane - for free. No charge. No fuss. We had to pay a fee of $200 to fly our small, well behaved puppy under the seat in a very small, confined, space - made even smaller by what I assume is a floatation device that hangs underneath (due partly to govt regulations I am sure). I hear a lot of griping about checked bags - but even a large overweight bag costs around $50 to check (if by itself) - which is many times the weight of our small puppy. It is my understanding that the fees, at least for checked luggage, are weight based.

In any case I just wanted to vent my frustration with the experience and let you know that while your customer service has always been great we feel that a fee of $100 each way (one for him and one for me) to fly a member of our family is incredibly high and has sadly, refelected negatively on Alaska for both of us. I apologize if my email is out of line and want you to know that Alaska as a company has been fabulous - this small part of our most recent trip is the only experience that has been unpleasant. Thank you for taking the time to read this and respond to our concern."

In case you were wondering that little bundle of joy in the image (shopping for vacation wear) is the little girl I am writing about.

Traveling with your pet soon and want to avoid the fees as much as possible? I would reccomend checking out the Airfarewatchdog pet fee site before you travel - I wish I would have. Also, keep in mind that in addition to the pet fees you are responsible for a health certificate, issued within the past 10 - 30 days (check the airline), from your vet indicating your pet can fly. The cost for my certificate was $95 and was definitely something I should have researched before going to my regular vet.