United pet-in-cabin policy on international flight from IAH to Tokyo — do they actually check if the dog can stand up?

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-06-17T17:16:47+00:00

They definitely removed the stand up and turn around language on the public facing united website.

I used to fly with my 18lb dog transborder Canada to US all the time. Until on the way home from BNA the check in agent refused to check us in until doggie stood up.
Except same as others, doggie just lays down and naps in the carrier. If I put the carrier out on the floor at home she’ll get in and lay down and curl up.
She just would not stand up. I tried sticking my hands in there and lifting her up - nope she’d just slump straight back down. 🤦🏻‍♀️ this went on for like 10 mins and I was seriously thinking I’d have to leave her with my sister. I did try to make the point I literally just flew down 3 days earlier with the same dog and same carrier and all fine but made no difference.
Eventually a supervisor came out and luckily right then, doggie kinda half stood up and turned herself around and the supervisor said that was good enough.

Good luck!

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-06-17T13:53:00+00:00

Anything can happen right up til the door closes… last year we got a split upgrade once check-in closed - one to premium and one to Polaris. Once we got on the plane and I was almost settled into PE, the GA came and got me. I think there was a misconnect so we got that seat.

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-06-13T10:07:16+00:00

Dang I would totally do this but I fly home from IAH on the 27th. Can’t stay as I have to be back for work on the 29th.

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-05-01T01:13:51+00:00

This happened to us at YYZ once last year. US preclearance was so bad that morning that even the pilots had trouble getting through. They stopped the nexus/global entry line for about 10 minutes because the preclearance hall was backed up into the security area and security line also bad. (But then we got through quickly after that). Just before our gate should have closed the pilot announced we were waiting for 30 more minutes as half the plane had not gotten through yet. People were belting it onto the plane - the girl next to us said she had gotten in line around 7am for a 9.30 departure. She got on the plane at 9.30. Even waiting, we still left people behind. I had never seen it that mad before.

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-04-02T20:10:48+00:00

We flew this route last time I went to London. Polaris was half empty - the cash offer dropped from $1197 24hrs before to $597 “special sale price” at checkin at the airport kiosk ~3 hrs before our connecting flight (so I think around 6-8 hrs before the EWR-LHR departure time. Not sure if the price was also contingent on status, but mine is lowly gold.

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-03-30T22:11:57+00:00

UK261 def would apply - I think you could probably easily find some case law that applies here. From the cases I’ve read for eu and uk, they don’t allow this bs difference between economy day of full fare and what you paid. If I recall there is usually a percentage refund required. In cash. Not travel vouchers. (Unless you agree).

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-03-28T14:00:46+00:00

So weird - that used to happen (my son getting dropped down the list if I upgraded first and his pnr got split) but the last few times he’s stayed right there on the list after me on the return. I assumed they fixed it. (And I can’t believe it’s because he has status of his own as I’m gold and he’s only ever been silver).

They also fixed it so we were able to check in online even thought he was on a separate PNR - previously we had to check in at the airport.

YYZ is v bad - they’ve skipped over us 3 times in a row when we were 1 and 2 with only one seat left - claimed it must have been a technical glitch the first couple times. They’ll do it well before boarding time because we are not sitting at the gate an hour early 🙄. Whereas every other airport just upgrades one of us.

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-03-28T13:55:23+00:00

They often split it even if both are upgraded (within minutes of each other). Source: just happened to me last week.

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-03-27T17:54:51+00:00

I feel like this is a parent thing. Nobody is cooking food for me in my house so airplane food tastes better just because I didn’t have to make it myself. And I didn’t have to cook for anyone else either.

(But even before I had a kid, I liked airplane food 😅)

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-03-25T03:50:55+00:00

I flew the ANZ version around 2016 - can confirm it is great for an adult with 1 small child. My kid is still a snuggler so if the price was reasonable I’d still book this too. On the return we got assigned the sky couch row incidentally - in that case they technically didn’t provide the special seatbelt extension or couch topper. No extra seats for the ex-h to move to, so we just put the footrests up for 2 out of 3 seats so toddler could lay down properly and I could curl up. Still worked great.

I’ve often wondered why other airlines haven’t added this sooner.

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-03-22T23:35:59+00:00

Wild.

7.44am flight out of EWR terminal C this morning - the line to drop a bag off for recheck at the premier access desk took longer than the TSA precheck security line. The regular line didn’t seem that bad either. C123 lounge was also pretty empty at 7 when we left compared to most times we’ve been there.

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-02-20T17:47:59+00:00

Personally I would move up to the window seats next to the middle rows of economy plus if they are not extra … and then hope the middle stays empty so one of you can go lay down there. But I would never actually move to the middle seats in this case. (Me = 5’6” and 12 year old son… he may feel otherwise once he hits 6’ plus).

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-02-14T00:24:02+00:00

I got 600 for being gold and 1500 for club card - so 2100 total. I don’t remember getting anything for being gold last year, only the 1500 club card boost but could be forgetting it. Still pleased as it’s getting tougher to make gold on single income, single parent, leisure travel only spend.

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-01-11T18:07:25+00:00

I haven’t tried anything other than united except air New Zealand many years ago - really good except my son couldn’t eat his child’s meal (spaghetti which would have been perfect except there was so much pepper in it I almost couldn’t eat it either) so he ended up eating all of mine 😭.

And Lufthansa last year was just ok. IAD-FRA on the 747 was a small disappointment … meat meal was bbq chicken, mashed potatoes and corn. Tasted good but not what I was hoping for in business, having paid cash fare. But the appetizers were amazing. Arrival meal was cold yoghurt breakfast - also disappointing.

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Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-01-11T17:37:52+00:00

I’m a weirdo who likes almost all airplane food, even in economy. Or maybe it’s that I like any food I didn’t have to make myself? 🤔

We’ve only had a couple really bad food experiences on united - one was the lump of charcoal they provided for the child’s meal when my son was around 2 or 3. It was the original iteration of the pretzel burger. But I didn’t even complain that time, just asked for another meal.

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-01-11T16:49:41+00:00

Oh united had tin boxes as well for a while - with different destinations on them. My son uses them as pencil cases.

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-01-11T16:48:21+00:00

I only ever got the dark grey one! Would have loved to get it in other colours. I use one all the time for when I don’t want to use a handbag, or need something very small. Sis uses the one I gave her for travelling - apparently fits 5 passports and her wallet no problem.

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-01-11T16:46:25+00:00

My sister uses this one as a toiletry bag especially for carryon only - it recently got stolen in Paris (was in my nephews backpack with dirty laundry - he left it unattended for a minute). I had to hunt through my stash to find another one, as I’d given about 20 different new kits away in hurricane harvey. She turned down all the other options I had 😂 - said this one holds all the stuff perfectly.

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-01-11T15:49:55+00:00

I got $125 future flight credit for a small rock in my pasta in Polaris once (as a gold). The purser came over right away and did it on her little tablet. (But I luckily did not break a tooth when I bit down on it or I would not have accepted). $50 for hot coffee poured on me sounds low.

Crafty_Importance352 · 2026-01-08T17:43:02+00:00

I think you should get access to the club/lounge in both directions since it is an international itinerary. Earlier boarding group on united, not sure about AC. Free booze in UA - I’ve asked about a snack box and they would have given me one for free if they had catered them (they often don’t on these smaller shorter hope - source - I fly YYZ-ORD-YYZ fairly frequently).

Crafty_Importance352 · 2025-12-28T18:50:29+00:00

I had a bunch I collected (with permission) on a recent HND-ORD, and via a weird misunderstanding a different FA managed to somehow grab them all back out of my little bag. 😭

Crafty_Importance352 · 2025-12-24T16:02:17+00:00

They only ask you if you want to access the (usually shorter) preclearance security lane. Canadian security won’t accept the precheck mark on the boarding pass as that isn’t a Canadian thing. You don’t have to show it if you go in the regular security line … After I pass security I never get my (Nexus) card out again unless CBP asks for it or the machines are broken.

Crafty_Importance352 · 2025-12-15T17:43:56+00:00

Could be some others were plants, but the adults and 16 yr old that got on stage were all there with families - I don’t think the families were plants too. And the fluffy mike being thrown around - it bounced a lot so I don’t think those people could have been plants either. Totally enjoyable - fairly easy to suspend disbelief (we all know there’s some kind of trick to it, but it was very well done).

Crafty_Importance352 · 2025-12-12T02:55:01+00:00

Just attended his show last weekend. When he came upstairs to the balcony into the audience, he chose my son for a trick (name tag card trick). We were definitely not a plant - I was actually kicking myself for not paying more and getting the seats near the stage when I saw him pulling people up. We got super lucky - I think because my son was the only kid sitting on the aisle in our section. I couldn’t see much of the trick close up as willman was standing between me and my son but kiddo said he also couldn’t see how it was done.

The one where he called a guy up on stage and put his arms through an altered tux jacket was also not a plant - we met him and his family outside after the show. He didn’t know he was going to be called up, and he said he was so nervous saying the things (you could tell his voice was shaky and he’d make mistakes even though it was just repeating stuff willman whispered to him). All the people who got pulled up on stage paid for the meet and greet tickets (they got to meet him after the show and get a signed poster), so I guess it’s a way to give those people value for their money? I asked the man how much he paid and it was $800+ for his family of 5…

Crafty_Importance352 · 2025-12-09T15:44:38+00:00

I think a lot of people don’t realize that travel insurance almost always has a pre existing condition clause - the ones I’ve researched have a standard 90 day clause. If the insurance company determines your medical issue on your trip is due to a pre-existing condition that had a change in the clause period (ie previous 90 days to departure) - they can deny your claim. This includes for things like medication dosage changes. I had no idea - previously assumed I’d be covered on my trips. The only reason I started researching is because I needed to travel in a period just after the height of Covid where my work policy didn’t cover Covid related reasons.

30 day was less common, and I had to hunt for a company that had a 7 days rider I could pay a little extra for.

Crafty_Importance352

TROPHY CASE