Thank you for your straight forward assessment. Given that there are those people that are allergic to pets or have other objections, I also agree with the comments that the high fee is intended as a deterant. I think the deterant is there to reduce the number of complaints from those that would prefer no pets on the flight. I have on occasion taken a small dog with me on a flight and found the process quite difficult to navigate if you have a change of planes a would like to take the dog to an area designated area for potty breaks. I have not checked lately, but aren't all of those areas on the other side of TSA security check or nowhere to be found? My specific reason for looking at the policy again now is that the fee increased from the last time I flew with a dog and I wanted to question the rate. I am looking at locating in San Diego and will need to take frequent trips to the Bay Area. On the surface, Southwests sales on travel within California look like a good solution. However, the $95 each way for my dog will end up being about twice the cost of my tickets. As dog owners know, the reason for flying with a dog are not so much not being able to be separated from the dog for that period of time but the lack of good affordable safe alternatives for the pet care while you are gone. I'm not sure how whole heartedly I agree with this being an opportunity for price gouging. I have not seen enough pets on a flight that I think the airline makes much money that way. If you have ever bought a low fare ticket and then had to change it last minute, I do believe that Southwest is one of the most sinister in this regard to marketing and pricing schemes. However, I do not think that pet travel affects their bottom line enough that it had anything to do with how ridiculously high they set the pet fee.
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