I know several people who have traveled with cats and with planning, it’s been fine.
Leash and harness training is critical. I trained my own cats last summer when we moved to a new house. It took a few days and they were fine with it. There are all kinds of videos about it.
My friend spent about a month moving across country by car with two cats. They let the cats roam in the car. At rest stops, they let the cats out to explore with leashes. It’s important to leash train the cat before you do this. Leash walking cats is becoming very popular and isn’t that hard.
Another friend took her cat out on the sailing boat every weekend in the summer. The cat wandered on deck and below as they sailed the eastern seaboard.
My niece recently moved her two cats to the Netherlands and back. It was a pain but they all got through it.
Wow! I’m amazed. They are supposed to put the carrier through the x ray machine, and since the cat is not supposed to go through, you need to take the cat out and carry it in your arms (or opt for “private screening” in a room). I have done this 100s of times…
We had 2 Westies in carriers in Premium Economy from Frankfurt to Atlanta - they decided to bark together for a while. It set off the flight attendance more than the passengers. I have no issues with flying pets but so many are allergic to cats, I’m surprised they do allow them in the cabins.
Back in the day when I was booking flights for our cats on JetBlue (at $100 per cat), their rule was that if a person with a declared condition was already booked on a particular flight, the system would not let anyone book any cabin pets. But if an allergic person was trying to book a flight with a pre-booked and paid for cabin cat or dog, they would be warned and offered alternative options. So first come first served sort of. There was also a rule that no more than 2 cabin pets could be on any given flight, and cats could not fly on the same flight with birds or dogs. Not sure how service animals were handled, and it was before the emotional support animal scam became a thing.
Honestly, if a cat is inside a closed carrier, there isn’t much chance of the cat itself causing allergic reactions. People are allergic to proteins in cat saliva. They are exposed to these proteins by contact with cat dander and hair. As long as the cat carrier is closed, the dander and hair shedding off the actual cat will mostly stay inside the carrier. Allergens don’t radiate off the cat through the carrier walls, and for the most part are not airborne either.
Instead of reacting to the cat itself, an allergic reaction is more likely to be the result of sitting next to a cat owner, who is likely to have cat hair and dander on their clothing and items (including on the outside of the cat carrier). Cat owners may have cat dander and hair on their clothing and items even if they are not actually traveling with a cat.
When I was a child I could not go into a person’s home that had cats - I did not have to see them or touch anything. It hit almost immediately with sneazing and runny eyes - so it must be more than just saliva and have some kind of airborne transmission.
