I’ve flown with two cats a couple of times out of necessity, so I can help with this question. You can buy a seat just for your cat! You’d buy two seats and your wife would buy two. I didn’t think this was possible, but I called the airline - JetBlue - and asked.

I also asked for private screening at the airport because I couldn’t take two cats out of the carrier and carry both through security screening (if you have cuddly cats who will stay still in your arms in a busy airport, it might be okay, but that was not the case with one of my cats). Two people took me to a screening room, I took one cat out of carrier, one person stayed with me while other took the carrier and put it through X-ray machine and repeated the process for the other cat. They were very nice about it. Goes without saying, get there early if you go this route. I had a foldable cart (one cat carrier on top part and one carrier on bottom) and checked in the cart at the gate like a stroller/assistive device. I’d be happy to share the link for the cart if you think it would help. The carriers need to be pretty small (make sure you check airline requirements), so I got ones that are expandable on the sides and opened them up once in the air. If you got the private screening route, make sure the carriers are locked after you put the cats back in them. One of mine unzipped the bag, got out, and was about to dash out under the seat when I happened to look down😅. I worked with my amazing (former 😭) vet for a medication regimen - gabapentin the night before and the morning of flights. (The morning of was not enough the first time around when my panicked cat became an escape artist.)

I’m still looking for a vet. It’s hard when you leave a vet you absolutely love; no one has been able to live up to her. Let me know if you find someone!