In my recent (June) survey of major airlines, the most ferret friendly
airline was Delta.  Delta allows ferrets in the cabin, with a health
certificate and a paid $60 one-way ticket.  Only one animal is allowed in
the cabin at a time, so you must get your pet ticket early.  Alaska Air
also allows ferrets in the cabin.  Other carriers will only allow your
ferret to fly in the luggage compartment (usually $50 each way plus health
certificates).  A few airlines are very ferret unfriendly (American and
TWA) and specifically prohibit ferrets in any form or fashion although they
will fly cats, dogs, snakes, pigs, rabbits, and birds.  When I talked to
representatives of these airlines, the ignorance was astonishing, mostly
dealing with rumors of vicious biting ("ferrets are a real danger to our
personnel!"), baby killing ("Can't afford the liability if the child of a
passenger is attacked"), chewing on wiring in the plane ("If one got
loose in the fuselage, the plane could go down"), no protection from
rabies ("they will spread all sorts of diseases to other animals in the
compartment, as well as people", a wild/nondomestic animal ("we don't carry
wild zoo animals"), etc.  American Airlines is particular will confiscate
ferrets as ferrets are illegal in their home base of Dallas.
 
Regulations change all the time, and not all airline personnel know the
rules.  Check the web sites of these airlines (print the regulations so you
have something in writing), and if you are getting information from a phone
conversation, get the person's name.  I have flown for years with ferrets
and it is quite a challenge, because every person seems to have a different
story.
 
- Erika and the Terrific Ten
[Posted in FML issue 2757]