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Or better yet, leave those small screaming ass kids at home and bring the pets with you.

I'm going to be a bit flippant about this one so bear with me.

I never have liked people bringing their animals in the passenger areas of any type of vehicle. Least of all a cat.

Yes, I've had cats before. I have had the displeasure of taking these cats to the vet in my automobile. Some were fine with it, others not so fine. I made the mistake of taking "Snowball" to the vet without a cage and in a car. It's a wonder I didn't end up in a ditch or in the side of someone else's car. That cat went ballistic. It was clamouring over me, the car sets, the windows, and at one point I swear it was on the roof. So I got one of those carrier/cage things. That was a little better, but not by much. "Snowball" would wail and shake the carrier. She even turned it over during one trip. Of course, the cat probably knew it was going to the vet and that may be the cause of the commotion. I would give that one hundred percent of the cause if I had not heard similar stories from other cat owners when they would go on trips with their precicous "Fluffy." I can just see the rest of the passengers on a three hour flight with "Fluffy" wailing away in the overhead compartment. Something tells me the cat would be better off with the luggage than with the passengers.

Now as for those little dogs I see women stuffing in their purses in the supermarket. I know we're talking about planes and travel, but this must be said. My feeling, and I think it's the law, is you shouldn't bring any animal other than a service animal into a food store or a restaurant. Especially if said animal is prone to lick itself in places where it's urine or feces exits. Stop bringing them in and exposing the rest of us to your pets "stuff."

Now as for taking it on a plane, the same thing applies to it as a cat. I know some animals are better behaved than others, but what about the one who likes to yap or snap at someone other than the owner? "Fifi" just won't make it in the overhead. The whining of a dog small enough to fit up there is going to drive people up the wall and force some to consider a D.B. Cooper out the back of the plane.

It is better to leave "Fluffy" and "Fifi" back home with a sitter if you're going on a business trip or vacation. There are several area services available for pets. Many are licensed and bonded. Take advantage of them. Just remember there are other people on the plane who had the consideration to leave their pet behind so that pet wouldn't complicate an already stressfull situation.

I have cats and dogs. I would never consider putting them in my car to go anywhere other than the vet much less carrying them onto a plane. And I don't care if "fluffy" is your "baby". Fluffy needs to stay home with a babysitter.

I'm gonna pop a stitch over steve's comment. I forgot about those. My sister-in-law related a story once about taking a cross country redeye flight with someone else's child on the plane who had night terrors. Talk about inconsiderate. The parents thought process must have shut down. "I know we'll take Junior on a night flight so he can scream and flail about while others are trying to sleep instead of taking him during the day when he'd be awake and not having those awful dreams."

Two years ago, I flew overnight 8 hours to Zurich. There was a toddler that screamed it's head off the entire time. It was worse than dying and going to hell. There should be a sound-proof booth on board that parents can take the little demons into, or at least put some cyanide caplets next to the barf bags to help passengers cope. 200+ had to stay awake all night because some over-practical mother forgot to plop a valium in the formula bottle. There has to be a better option than having to endure such misery.

We've had discussions in the past about animals and I would like to say again.....IT'S A DOG!!!! GEEZ!!!! Why in the heck do people want to fly with a friggin' dog anyways?

P.S. This writer is a member of P.E.T.A. (People for the Eating of Tasty Animals)

suffer the little children