Interisland Flight on Hawaiian Airlines with Pet, Need Advice (Hawi: home, buying)

[gone2maui]

Hi,
I'm moving to Maui on July 15th. I bought a Sherpa medium sized bag for our United flight from Philadelphia to Los Angeles so that my cat can fly carry-on. I just called and looked at the website for Hawaiian (my cat will need to fly from Oahu to Maui after quarantine) and this airline has different restrictions for their carry-on size for my cat to sit in. Has anyone flown on Hawaiian and used an animal carry-on bag to transport their pet in? Looks like I'm going to have to buy a different carrier for this portion of the trip and I want to make sure it will fit. If you've done this, please let me know what brand and size carrier you used on Hawaiian Airlines. Thanks!

[hothulamaui]

call hawaiian to be safe, they might have the info on their web site but I would call.

[KoaKine]

Its my understanding that you need to call the airline to find out their rules and prices each one is different.
Are you putting your cat in quarantine in HNL? I would advise against it . I would do the quarantine in Cali or your home state with a friend or someone you trust.

[Galactastica]

i am assuming you mean quarantine for direct release, meaning they just stop by the quarantine place to get checked out and then are on their merry way. I recently flew with my cats interisland but i checked them as baggage. if you want to avoid buying an extra carrier, just see if you can check the carrier you have know as baggage if you can't take it on with you. it's a short flight and they'll be fine. then again, the carry on carrier you might have is probably soft sided, and you can not check those. call them!

[gone2maui]

Yes, we are doing the quarantine for direct release. I'd rather not check my cat as baggage (no offense) but my cat is a grouchy old thing and it would probably stress her out more. I did call Hawaiian Airlines but they don't recommend any type of carrier and the carrier that I have (soft-sided) is too big compared to their measurements (even though this one is acceptable for United). I was just trying to see what other brands of carriers that everyone else used interisland to make sure that I get the right one. So if anyone can chime in here with some information, that would be great. Mahalo!

[PacificFlights]

Do I have this correct?
You are flying your cat in the Sherpa bag in the cabin from PA to CA in the cabin of United as carry on. You will be switching you cat to a hard kennel in CA for the flight to HI as checked baggage. After clearing DoA, you want to switch back to the Sherpa bag for the interisland flight and bring the cat in the cabin, but Hawiian Airs dimensions are smaller than the Sherpa Bag you have. Is that correct? If so, Hawaiian Air's requirment is that the bag fit under the seat in front of you. Go to a pet supply store (in person or check online) and look at the dimensions of the Under Seat Carry-On pet carriers. As long as the bag can safely fit under the seat without hurting the cat, it should be acceptable. You can also see if the hard kennel your using from CA to HI has a replaceable top. use the larger top for the CA to HI trip so the cat has more room while in baggage and switch to a replacement lower height top to meet the under seat dimensions inter-island.