By 

J. Cartwright “jcart” (Girard, OH USA) –

  

This review is for the MEDIUM size carrier, but if you’re looking for an “airline approved” carrier, you should read it.
First of all, there is no such thing as and “airline approved” carrier. Here’s why. Airlines are capricious about what carriers they will allow, this varies from flight to flight, and it has nothing to do with their written policies or the kind of plane you’re in. If the flight attendants decide it doesn’t fit under the seat, and they vary in their opinions about this, you can’t fly with it. I had taken my dog in his wheeled Sherpa (medium) carrier on 15 trips in the 18 months I had the carrier, on US Air, AirTran, United, and Frontier (before Frontier quit allowing in-cabin pets). Most of the trips were on AirTran. But on an AirTran flight last year there were four people with pets on the plane, all with the same size Sherpa carriers (mine was the only one with wheels, and btw the wheels don’t make the carrier that much taller, and the carrier will squish down a bit if necessary). One of the flight attendants decided the carriers were all too big and ordered the four passengers to put their pets in an 8″ x 17″ x 12″ hard-sided plastic box. Three of us complied, but one couple elected to get off the plane rather than subject their pet to such a cramped carrier.
I love this Sherpa carrier and so does my dog. At home, I leave it out, and he goes into it often. It’s his “safe place”. But I haven’t taken him with me on a flight since that happened (and I haven’t traveled AirTran either).
The only other problem with the carrier is that one of the wheels broke off and there seems to be no way to fix it. But since I can’t use it for flying anymore, that doesn’t matter.
Other than that, it’s just a great carrier, and the wheels worked fine for me (when they were all attached). I could easily pull my wheeled carry-on alongside the Sherpa with the same hand. The carry-on helped keep the Sherpa on track. But even by itself, the Sherpa was very easy to pull and turn as long as you kept its low center of gravity in mind when turning. You get the hang of it after awhile.
I’d get a guarantee from the airline that you can bring your carrier on board before I booked my seat. But unfortunately, once on board, you’re at the mercy of the flight attendants. What they say goes, and since 9/11 and the Patriot Act, some of them have turned into Air Nazis.

Additional Note: I just now discovered on the Sherpa Pet Group web site that Sherpa has begun a “Guaranteed On Board” program, a partnership between them and several airlines. If you fill out the form on their web site, and take it with you when you travel to present to the airline, supposedly Sherpa will pay for your flight if you are denied boarding with their carriers (small and medium size carriers only on all airlines except Northwest). They don’t say how you are supposed to get home if you are denied boarding though. This isn’t Sherpa’s fault. Obviously, they are doing all they can to remove barriers to in-cabin pet travel. [...]

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