I was nervous about bringing Lola home. I've never traveled with an animal apart from the few hour drives to jefferson city with Cosmo,.the most mellow dog ever. So yesterday, in order to make sure today went as smoothly as possible, I dotted every I and crossed every T. I checked in online minutes after it was available. I paid for my extra bag in advance online. I called United Airlines to reconfirm that I would be traveling with a cat from Veracruz to Houston to Kansas City and that everything was in order and good to go. I was assured it was. I found out otherwise at the airport this morning. Octavio & I woke up at 6:00 AM, took a taxi to the bus station in Xalapa, a bus to Veracruz, then a taxi from the Veracruz bus station to the airport. Luckily, we were hours early because we would need the time. When I went to check in my bags were the perfect weight (one was actually half a kilo over but the guy kindly let it slide) I reached the counter and the lady had this look on her face when she said "hablas espanol?" She then proceeded to tell us that Mexico had just changed their policy about in cabin pets LAST WEEK! Also, she added, the cargo area isn't pressurized animals can't go with the luggage. They could change my flight and add a stop in Mexico City but I would need a hard kennel for that. (unlike the soft kennel I specifically purchased because I was told it was necessary for in cabin pets) oh, but then she realized the plane to Mexico City was full. I could use their pet shipping service to ship Lola so I could travel according to my original plan. No, thank you. While this nice lady is trying to find a way to help me her supervise wanders over with a smug look on his face. So I ask him why when I called United yesterday wasn't I informed that my cat wouldn't be able to travel in any manner on the flight. He said well they probably didn't know about the rule change. Then I asked why no one there had bothered to call and tell me when they realized it yesterday. He smugly tells me it's because I didn't have a mexican phone number listed. Well buddy, spring for the long distance and call the number listed. My mom would have gotten ahold of me. Or better yet, my email is listed there, that's free, shoot me an email and notify me of the changes. It seemed our only option was going to be stay in Veracruz overnight, buy a hard kennel, take the first flight to México City to Houston. Once I was in Houston I would have to change Lola to a soft kennel for the flight to KC. Luckily, the lady helping us realized what an inconvenience that would be and also how stupid it was that if I had traveled last week Lola would be allowed but a few days later no. So she talked to her manager and they decided we would, in a sense, sneak Lola on the plane. So I went through security like normal (except this time I had to walk through the metal detector with a scared cat in my arms, I guess making sure Lola wasn't a drug mule/cat) but no one stopped me so I kept going. And I am very thankful to the woman who was so understanding and helped me. I had a hard enough time saying goodbye to my fiance today, don't make me leave my cat in Mexico now too!
Wonderful!
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