“Two cat Karen” is trying to get home to Oregon “for Christmas” but her plans are foiled. She’s checking in with Alaska Airlines, has two cats with her and they weren’t on the reservation. Check-in counter staff offer her a solution, but she doesn’t like it.
She’s trying to take two cats in the cabin, in one soft-sided underseat carrier. She wants to just pay at the airport like she has “for many years.” I have to give her credit for not claiming these are service animals!
But the Alaska staff are enforcing a policy that the pets must have enough room and full range of motion, and be able to travel comfortably in the carrier. And these two larger cats in one carrier fails that standard.
It’s hard to believe people actually act like this irl pic.twitter.com/y64G6y4tSA
— Ichigo Niggasake (@SomaKazima2) December 22, 2025
How does this get solved?
- Employees tell the woman that the “fix” would be another carrier and paying separately.
- The woman immediately asks the obvious operational constraint: where does the second carrier go?
- And she’s told – under another seat, that she’d have to pay for.
Ultimately, this is on the passenger and not the airline. She didn’t confirm pet requirements, didn’t detail her plans to the airline and have that added to the reservation, and then demands a Christmas exception. I think my favorite comment in social media comes down to “you’re not special because it’s Christmas.” The airline has rules about the treatment of animals and she wants a lower standard of treatment for hers for Christmas is an odd approach.
