Hi everyone and hope the new year has started off good for you and your fuzzies. We were hoping that everyone of the ferret community would get together again and try to get this rule reversed as was done last July when it was first encountered as a possibility. We, as I am sure many who fly with their ferrets, were hoping that with the merger between Delta and Northwest that we would actually have more options opened to us and instead was shocked to learn that the opposite happened and we lost all in-cabin opportunity. As was stated in a post on the FML on 02-02-09, we also ran into a similar problem with booking flights for a trip at Thanksgiving last year (booked before the rule went into effect) and just before boarding to leave were informed they would let us on due to the fact the ferrets were actually listed on our reservation but that we may have trouble coming back. Thank goodness we arrived at the returning airport early as it took us about 30 minutes to get through but since we had flown in with our two ferrets, they let us return with them. But if we hadn't already traveled one direction, we would not have even been allowed on with them. This ruling is very disappointing and I hope we will be able to get it reversed. We have never had any kind of incident with our ferrets and flying (except in-cabin carrier size dispute locally--which the under-the-seat carrier works on all flights/planes we have ever taken) or heard of any actually taking place and as a matter of fact, many airline workers throughout our trips are very curious about them and enjoy them, so it is hard to understand what exactly is causing the problem with Delta/Northwest or any airline for that matter to allow these wonderful animals in cabin. We provide paperwork, secure travel carriers and overall they don't cause any type commotion, noise or disruption that we know of--our two sleep most of the trip. Besides, they are making a fortune off us with tripling the cost one way for them -- $150.00 (this is basically FREE money for them -- they don't have to do anything except let us on the plane). I look forward to joining others in writing to Delta or elsewhere to reach the entire airline community to try and get this rule reversed for all air travel. If nothing else, maybe someone will have to develop an affordable private plane transportation for us to use--The Ferret Express. Best to all, Kim [Posted in FML 6233]