Flying with a cat or dog used to mean settling for whatever policy your airline happened to have buried in its fine print. A new comparison by AirAdvisor, a flight compensation service, has done the digging for you, scoring 22 European carriers on whether pets can fly in the cabin, travel in the hold, and even join you in the airport lounge. The verdict: most European airlines are reasonably pet-tolerant, but the details — weight caps, fees, breed rules — vary a lot.
The 8kg barrier is the big one. Almost every carrier surveyed allows small cats and dogs in the cabin if pet and carrier together weigh 8kg or less. Beyond that, your animal is looking at the hold, cargo, or in Air France's case a hard limit of 75kg, after which travel isn't permitted at all.
Several airlines let you bring two pets rather than one: Austrian, Brussels, Finnair, LOT, SAS and TAP all permit a pair of small animals, with Finnair even allowing two of the same species to share one carrier. Finnair is also unusually broad on species — hedgehogs, tortoises, rabbits and ferrets can all be accommodated, while Brussels Airlines pushes rabbits, birds, rodents and fish into cargo.
On price, TAP is the budget pick: in-cabin fees start at €40 on domestic Portuguese flights booked online in low season, topping out at €170 for intercontinental routes. LOT charges €44-€100 depending on distance, and Lufthansa €50-€110. Air France is the priciest of the in-cabin options at €70-€250, with hold fees reaching €750.
Lounge access is a surprising differentiator. Aegean, Air France, Finnair, LOT, Lufthansa and SAS all welcome pets into their branded lounges — though most insist the animal stays in its carrier, with LOT the standout for letting pets roam under supervision.
A few gotchas worth knowing before you book. Flat-faced breeds like bulldogs and pugs often face extra restrictions due to breathing risks, and pets under 8-15 weeks (depending on the airline) are usually too young to fly. Premium cabins are generally less pet-friendly than economy, and codeshare flights or connections involving a partner airline can complicate things badly. Perhaps most importantly, some destinations — the UK, USA, Australia and Hong Kong — only accept pets as separate freight, no matter how small your dog is.
For anyone reluctant to leave a pet behind, the practical takeaway is to pick your airline before your dates. Aegean, Finnair and LOT emerge as flexible all-rounders with lounge access and sensible fees, while TAP wins on price. Book the pet at least seven days ahead on Finnair to save money, and check the fine print on age, breed and carrier type — Air France, for example, only accepts soft-sided carriers.
