Flying first class with your pooch may sound like an impossible dream for many pet lovers, but a new boutique airline launching this week is aiming to make the “White Paw Experience” a reality.
BARK Air describes itself as “the world's first air travel experience designed specifically for dogs first and their owners second.”
“Bark Air offers dogs all the attentive service that humans enjoy in first class. From booking to arrival, in-flight service and disembarkation, dogs enjoy a truly VIP, pampered and personalized experience,” the company said in a statement last month.
BARK Air officially began operations on Wednesday afternoon, with its inaugural flight carrying six dog breeds ranging from Chihuahuas to golden retrievers and 11 people (passengers and crew) from New York to Los Angeles.
The Very Important Pups were treated to chicken-flavored Puppuccinos, specialty cupcakes, and a platter of shoes for snacks, according to BARK chief of staff Katherine Enos, who told NPR in an email that “there were no incidents on board.”
“Brooklyn (Dachshund) and Eddie (Golden [were] “We played with our friends and the little dogs had long, snoozy naps most of the time,” she added. “After lunch it was nap time for everyone. There were no potty accidents on board or food theft! Everyone felt so connected to the dogs, like they were obsessed with them.”
The airline is a subsidiary of BARK, which operates dog-focused brands such as subscription service BarkBox, and co-founder and CEO Matt Meeker says he's been working on the idea for more than a decade.
Meeker was inspired by his late Great Dane, Hugo, who often traveled with Meeker but couldn't fly. Like many lap-sitters, Hugo had to fly in the cargo hold instead of the passenger cabin. (Meeker even flew in the cargo hold from Florida to New York as part of a promotional campaign for Bark Air to demonstrate how disruptive flying in the cargo hold would be.)
Many airlines have tightened regulations in recent years about bringing emotional support animals on board, and the logistics and costs of travel can be a highly emotional issue for many families who don't want to leave their dogs behind when they relocate, let alone go on vacation, Meeker said.
“We don't think of ourselves as selling dog toys or airline seats,” Meeker told NPR in a phone interview. “We think of ourselves as selling an amazing emotional experience with a dog.”
They're also expensive: A BARK Air flight between New York and Los Angeles costs $6,000 one way for one dog and one human (or one human and two dogs, weighing less than 50 pounds combined), and a one-way flight between New York and London is $8,000.
Potential customers were quick to lament the cost, with one social media user joking that his pup would have to sell “paw photos” to be successful.
“The price is high, it's too high,” Meeker acknowledged, but he said innovations, especially in transportation, often get cheaper over time, and BARK Air is hopeful that will happen.
“If there's demand, there are clearly ways to bring the price down, and that's our goal,” he added. “We want to make it affordable and available to as many dogs as possible.”
Airlines aim to pamper both canine and human passengers
On BARK Air, drinks are served in bowls, leashes replace seat belts, champagne is made with chicken broth, and toilets are everywhere.
“When they want to go to the bathroom, they go to the bathroom,” Meeker said of the dogs, “and we clean up after them. And we clean the plane every time we turn.”
It's one of the many unique perks — and logistical challenges — of airlines that allow dogs: BARK has partnered with Talon Air, a New York-based charter company that provides the pilots, flight crew and planes (a Gulfstream V).
The jet can accommodate 14 human passengers, but BARK is limiting passenger numbers to 10 to allow for more space, and Meeker says he aims to make the experience as comfortable as possible for the dogs, even before the flight.
BARK Air will be conducting a “puppy reception” to get to know the dog's temperament and preferences. On the day of the flight, owners are advised to arrive at the terminal an hour early, show their ID and board the plane right away.
“So what we did was avoid a busy commercial airport and a very strict TSA environment and treating the dog as just another piece of luggage,” Meeker said.
Before takeoff, dogs and humans are fed and toys are put away to prevent territorial disputes. Once in the air, the dogs are given perks like spa treatments and pheromone-laced blankets for extra comfort. Meeker said flight attendants are trained in canine CPR and “fear-free behavior training.”
The airline has no size or breed restrictions for dogs, but passengers must be over 18 years old (that's 126 in dog years). Once on board, passengers are advised to keep their dogs on a lead whenever possible and to ask permission before approaching other people's dogs.
Meeker, who took his dogs on two recent test flights between Florida and New York, said people had hoped the dogs would behave badly for the experiment, but the dogs were a total disappointment, even during “pretty severe turbulence.”
“They were calming everybody down, moving around, sitting in people's seats,” he said. “A strange dog that wasn't even my dog would come up and sit on the couch next to me and put its head on my lap, and I was like, 'Oh, good.'”
He added: “I don't know why I was surprised by this, but the dogs made it magical.”
Demand already appears to be skyrocketing
Meeker said the initial response to the launch of BARK Air has been “really overwhelmingly positive.”
BARK Airlines operates about four domestic round trip flights a month, with several flights for June and July already sold out. The airline is already planning to expand its routes, including starting flights from New York to Paris in the fall.
“It appears that about a third of people buy their tickets six months in advance,” he said, “so we're announcing our schedule through the end of the year to better serve that demographic.”
The airline is taking requests for additional destinations, and Meeker said it received more than 15,000 requests in the first week alone.
“We've heard from military families moving, people traveling for business, people spending the summer outside of New York, all wanting to bring their dogs to New York. Meeker also noted that there's been a lot of demand from snowbirds who want to take their dogs south for the winter, with many requests for flights to and from Chicago.”
“We are still processing that information and selecting dates, but we are learning a lot,” he added.
He hopes that the data it will gather will enable the company to make more cost-effective decisions soon.
“Probably the most expensive option is to charter a private jet from a private owner,” he explained.
The next step would be to enter into longer-term agreements with charter companies and lease planes for a month or a year to bring costs down. Better yet, buy a plane and outfit it. Meeker is eyeing a Boeing 747 model, the back half of which he could dedicate to cargo as an additional revenue stream.
He said the team already has blueprints that feature private cabins with flatbeds, a central “dog park” and a bar for dog-human interaction.
“That's the dream,” he added, “but it's going to take some time to get there.”
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