Frontier Pet Policy: Cabin Only, and More Species Than Most

One pet per passenger

Each passenger may bring one pet. Travelling with two animals means a second passenger and a second carrier, or a second booking — this is not something that can be negotiated at the airport, because the per-flight capacity is managed in advance.

Pets must be at least eight weeks old, fully weaned, healthy and up to date on vaccinations.

Booking it

• Add the pet when you book online, or call to add it to an existing reservation. Earlier is better because space per flight is limited.
• Confirm the charge, which is collected each way per pet.
• Check every leg is operated by the airline itself, not a codeshare partner.
• Confirm your species is accepted on your specific route — the domestic list is broader than the international one.
• Have the carrier dimensions and the combined weight ready.
• Bring vaccination records, even on a domestic flight where they may not be formally required.

Bare fares and a disrupted day with an animal

This airline's fares are built low with the rest sold separately, and that structure matters more when you are travelling with a pet.

• A missed flight is generally a loss rather than a credit, and rebooking means buying the pet space again on the new flight.
• The replacement flight also needs pet capacity, which a full one will not have.
• There is no interline arrangement, so being moved to another airline is not something to count on — and the other airline would have its own pet rules anyway.
• Schedules on many routes are thin. A cancellation can mean the next day, which with an animal in a carrier is a genuinely difficult evening.

The practical conclusion: with a pet, book the nonstop, book earlier in the day, and do not take the last departure.

If the trip is international

Only cats and dogs qualify, and the rules stop being about the airline and start being about the destination country.

• An ISO-compliant microchip, implanted before the rabies vaccination. The order matters and getting it wrong means starting over.
• A current rabies vaccination, with the waiting period after it observed.
• A health certificate issued inside the destination's window, which is usually short.
• Destination-specific paperwork, which frequently has the longest lead time of anything in the trip.

Coming back into the United States, every dog now needs a CDC Dog Import Form receipt, must be at least six months old, must have an ISO microchip and must appear healthy on arrival. The receipt has to be shown to the airline before boarding — so a missing one stops you at the departure gate abroad, not at US immigration. This catches American families bringing their own dog home, which is not what most people expect.

Preparing a pet for a day in a carrier

• Introduce the carrier weeks ahead, left open at home with a blanket inside.
• Do a few short car trips in it so it is not only associated with something alarming.
• Put something that smells of home inside — a worn t-shirt beats a new blanket.
• Exercise the animal before you leave. A tired pet travels far better.
• Limit food beforehand but not water, and offer water after landing.
• Use a harness and lead at security, where you carry the animal through while the carrier is scanned. A startled cat in a security line is a serious problem.
• Do not sedate without veterinary advice — sedatives affect breathing and temperature regulation at altitude.
• For a bird or small mammal, ask the airline specifically how security handling works, since the standard "carry it through" instruction assumes a cat or dog.

What can go wrong, and how to reduce the chance

• A codeshare leg. Pets are not carried, and it can make a whole itinerary unworkable.
• The carrier is too big, or the combined weight too high. Measure and weigh before you fly.
• The animal cannot stand or turn inside. Checked, and a carrier within the dimensions can still fail.
• A small animal booked on an international route. Rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and birds are domestic only.
• The flight's pet capacity was full. With no hold option, that is a different flight.
• Your dog is too large for the cabin. Establish this first — it decides the airline.
• A dog under six months, or without the CDC receipt, flying into the US. Both stop you at the gate.

A realistic timeline

For a domestic flight with a cat or a small dog, a few weeks is enough. For anything crossing a border, the timeline is set by biology rather than booking windows and cannot be compressed.

• Four to six months out (international): confirm the destination's import rules. Microchip the animal if it is not already done — it must come before the rabies vaccination.
• Three to four months out: rabies vaccination, then the waiting period. Any required blood test has its own lead time after that.
• Two months out: book the flights, checking every leg is operated by the airline itself. Buy the carrier and start leaving it open at home.
• One month out: add the pet to the booking if you have not already. Confirm your species is accepted on that route.
• Two weeks out: health certificate appointment booked for inside the destination's window.
• The final week: documents printed, CDC form completed if a dog is entering the United States, carrier packed as you will actually travel.
• The day before: trim the animal's nails so they cannot catch in the carrier mesh, and confirm the flight.

How Fond Travels can help

• We confirm your species is accepted on your route, which on this airline is a real question — the domestic list is broader than most, the international one is not.
• We check every leg is operated by the airline itself, since codeshare flights do not carry pets.
• We find the carrier that will take a larger dog when this one will not.
• We book around the schedule risk — nonstop, earlier in the day, never the last departure, because a disrupted night with an animal is the thing to avoid.
• We walk you through the US entry rules for dogs on any international trip, including the CDC form.
• We are reachable on the day, which matters when you are in a terminal with a carrier and a delay.

To plan a trip with a pet, call +1 (323) 800 6001. A travel expert answers any hour.